Quercus imbricaria

COMMON NAME: Shingle Oak, Laurel Oak

FAMILY: Fagaceae

GROWTH HABIT: Medium-sized tree, 50 - 60 ft in height, developing a comparable or slightly greater spread, can grow to 80 - 100 ft. Short trunk with rounded crown.

FOLIAGE: Alternate, simple 2 1/2 - 6 in long, 1 - 3 in wide, oblong or lanceolate, acut at apex with bristle-like tip. Dar, green and glabrous (hairless) above, pale green or brownish and pubescent beneath; petiole 1/4 - 5/8 in long.

BUDS: Ovoid, sharp pointed, 1/8 in long, brownish, often slightly hairy

BARK: Gray-brown, close, eventually with broad low ridges separated by shallow furrows

FLOWERS: Borne separately on the same tree. The male in catkins, the female in short spikes.

FRUIT: An acorn, about 3/4 in long. Nut enclosed 1/2 - 1/3 in a thin bowl-shaped cup with aprressed red-brown scales. Nut-bitter.

NATURAL HISTORY: Found on moist hillsides or along streams in mixture with other hardwoods.

NATIVE HABITAT: New Jersey to southeastern Nebraska, south to Arkansas and Beorgia (below Delaware, not on the coastal plain).

REMARKS: Shingle oak apparently received its name because the explorer Michaux found the pioneer in the midwest making split shingles, or shakes, from it