Click on the images help you identify a northern red oak.
Form
Height is 55 to 80 feet with a trunk diameter of 24 to 36 inches. Tall and straight with clear trunk and narrow crown.
Bark
Bark on young stems is smooth and dark gray to dark brown in color. Bark on older trees is thick and brown, broken by shallow fissures into regular, flat, smooth-surfaced vertical plates.
Leaf
Simple, alternate on stem, length 5 to 9 inches; divided into seven to nine lobes, each extending halfway to the midrib. Each lobe is somewhat coarsely toothed, bristle tipped, firm. Color is dull green above, paler below, often turning a brilliant red in fall. Buds thick and pointed at top.
Fruit (seed)
Large, bitter acorn, maturing the second year; length 3/4 to nearly 2 inches; blunt topped, flat at base with base enclosed in a very shallow, dark brown cup.
Range
Grows throughout the state but is most common and of best quality in the rich soil of southern, central, and southeastern Minnesota. Moderately shade tolerant, fast growing. Very susceptible to oak wilt fungus.
Wood uses
Light, reddish-brown, hard, strong, and coarse. Used for construction and finish of houses, furniture, and fuel. Grows more rapidly than most oaks, and production is widely encouraged in the southern parts of the state for both timber and shade.