Flowering Trees & Shrubs Codexery

Quercus rubra

A fast-growing North American oak with distinctive bark.

Last updated

The species has high genetic diversity in its native range with low genetic differentiation due to high gene flow.[1] In forest settings, Quercus rubra can achieve a height of 28 m, with exceptional individuals reaching up to 43 m.[2] Specimens growing in open conditions may form a trunk measuring up to 2 m across.[2]

Scientific classification

  1. CladeTracheophytes
  2. CladeAngiosperms
  3. CladeEudicots
  4. CladeRosids
  5. OrderFagales
  6. FamilyFagaceae
  7. GenusQuercus
  8. GenusQuercus
  9. SpeciesQuercus rubra

Named by L.

Close relatives

Other species of Quercus with a Codexery entry.

Sources: Wikipedia taxobox: Quercus rubra (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Conservation status

Least Concern (LC)

  1. LC▲ this species
  2. NT
  3. VU
  4. EN
  5. CR
  6. EW
  7. EX
Population trend
Not held in our sources — see the assessment
Assessment published
2015

Source: IUCN Red List assessment · GBIF copy of the Red List category

Where the quercus rubra has been recorded

Where the quercus rubra has been recorded3 mapped locations from 227,873 GBIF occurrence records

Each dot is a place where the species has been observed and reported (227,873 records, half-degree grid) — not a modelled range. 262 inland records left out (institution coordinates).

Map: drawn by Codexery. Data: GBIF occurrence search (records CC0 / CC BY) · Natural Earth basemap (public domain)

Biology and range

It prefers glacial drift and well-drained stream borders, though it tolerates many soils.[3] Red oak acorns require at least three months of temperatures below 40 °F to germinate.[4] The bark features ridges with shiny stripes down the center, a characteristic unique to this species all the way down the trunk.[4] A maximum lifespan of 400 years is possible for this species, and a specimen documented in 2001 was found to be 326 years old.[5]

Ectomycorrhizal associations in northern red oak are effective and have been linked to faster growth.[6]

What the specialist sources record

The same source states the species experiences heavy browsing pressure and can be easily controlled in Germany.[1] A 2017 study by Myczko found that in Europe, acorns are consumed by moth species Cydia fagiglandana and Cydia splendana, which increases their niche breadths and reduces competition with Curculio weevils.[7] The same study reports that germination rates have decreased significantly in Poland due to this consumption.[7] Merceron's 2017 work in Belgian forests found that European jays and wood mice are more attracted to local oak species than to northern red oak.[8]

References

  1. Quercus rubra - European Forest Genetic Resources Programme. facts only, no text reused. euforgen.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Quercus rubra" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Keeler, "Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them", Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900, p. 349–354 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Quercus rubra" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Keeler, "Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them", Charles Scribner's Sons, 1900, p. 349–354; The Natural Communities of Virginia Classification of Ecological Community Groups (Version 2.3), Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, 2010; Schafale, M. P. and A. S. Weakley. 1990. Classification of the natural communities of North Carolina: third approximation. North Carolina Natural Heritage Progr; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Quercus rubra" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Quercus rubra" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Arbor Day Foundation, Northern Red Oak; United States Department of Agriculture Plant Guide; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Quercus rubra" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dickie, "Influences of Established Trees on Mycorrhizas, Nutrition, and Growth of Quercus rubra Seedlings", Ecological Monographs, 2002, p. 505–521; Dickie, "Influences of Established Trees on Mycorrhizas, Nutrition, and Growth of Quercus rubra Seedlings", Ecological Monographs, 2002, p. 505–521 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Quercus rubra" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Myczko, "Acorns of invasive Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra) in Europe are larval hosts of moths and beetles", Biological Invasions, 2017-08-01, p. 2419–2425 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Quercus rubra" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Merceron, "Removal of acorns of the alien oak Quercus rubra on the ground by scatter-hoarding animals in Belgian forests.", Biotechnology, Agronomy, Society, and Environment, 2017, p. 127–130 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Quercus rubra (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Related entries

Named in this entry

Oak

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Quercus suberQuercus velutinaQuercus virginianaPolylepisMagnoliaMagnoliaceaeMagnoliidsNothofagusNothofagus fuscaNothofagus menziesiiPopulusPopulus tremula

Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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