Red Oak – Quercus rubra

  • Red Oak. [Date Accessed: July 17, 2008].

 

Nomenclature:

  • Quercus rubra
  • Family: Fagaceae

 

Botany and Ecology:

  • Tree height: 50’- 70’
  • Tree diameter: 1’- 3’
  • Leaves are broad, flat, thin, and pinnately lobed that narrows toward the tip
  • Fruit: acorns
  • Grows in rich, well-drained soils
  • Grows more rapidly than other oaks so is often planted in residential areas
  • Distribution:
    • United States: AL, AR, CT, DC, DE, GA, IA, IL, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, SC, TN , VA, VT, WI, WV
    • Canada: NB, NS, ON, PE, QC

 

Uses:

  • Edible:
    • Roasted seeds can be used as a coffee substitute
  • Medicinal:
    • Bark used as antiseptics, astringents, and emetics to treat diarrhea, chronic dysentery, asthma, indigestion, severe coughs, and intermittent fevers
    • Externally used on rashes, burns, skin eruptions, etc.

 

Conservation:

 

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