southern red oak (Great Smoky Mountains National Park

southern red oak

Quercus falcata

Summary ³

Quercus falcata, commonly known as the Southern Red Oak or Spanish Oak, is a tree in the red oak section (Lobatae) of the genus Quercus native to the southeastern United States.

Distribution ⁴

Southern red oak is widespread in the southeastern United States from
Long Island, New York, south to Florida, west to the Brazos River in
eastern Texas and north into eastern Oklahoma, Arkansas, southern Illinois,
southern Ohio, and western West Virginia. It occurs only on the coast in the
North Atlantic States and primarily on the Piedmont in the South Atlantic
States [4]. It is found
occasionally on uplands of the Blue Ridge Province from Virginia south
to Georgia [59].

Cherrybark oak occurs on the coastal plains from southeastern Virginia
to northwestern Florida and west to the 45 inch (114 cm) rainfall line
in east Texas [25,49]. Although rare in the lower delta, it grows north
in the Mississippi River valley. Unlike the typical variety, cherrybark
oak is absent from eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky, and West
Virginia [25]. In Florida, this variety occurs only on the floodplain
of the Apalachicola River in Jackson and Gadsen counties [8].