Common in local forests along streams and in moist areas. Young trees exhibit much variation in leaves, sometimes resembling Q. phellos.
I saw this tree at the Arboretum in Seattle. I was not familiar with the water oak, but the majority of the tree species are labeled. The water oak was very tall (I would estimate 60 ft). It has rough ridges in the bark and produces acorns. It is native to the East Coast (FL).
The Water Oak (Quercus nigra) is an oak in the red oak group (Quercus sect. Lobatae), native to the southeastern United States, from southern Delaware and south to the coastal areas of Maryland, Virginia, the piedmont of North Carolina, all of South Carolina, most of Georgia (with the exception of the Appalachian Mountains), all of Alabama, Mississippi, central Florida, and westward to Louisiana and eastern Texas. From there, northward to southeastern Missouri including Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma,...
