"Southern red oak is common in the forests of east Texas, and is the dominant oak in the Pineywoods. It is highly polymorphic, that is, it can have many forms, especially the leaves, which can have from 3 to 13 lobes. The leaf base is typically rounded. It grows in acid soils and will not do well on the clay soils of central and north central Texas. Many authors divide the southern red oak into four varieties: var. falcata (Southern Red Oak), var. leucophylla (True Cherrybark Red Oak), var. pagodifolia (Swamp Red Oak), and var. triloba (Three-lobe Red Oak)."

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. It is found occasionally on uplands of the Blue Ridge Province from Virginia south to Georgia.

This medium to large sized deciduous tree (height to 125 feet; width to 100 feet) likes full sun, tolerates a fair amount of heat, has medium moisture requirements and prefers acid soils. It is hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone: 7.

Hairy, yellow-green, male catkins, three to five inches long, are produced in the spring. The female catkins are reddish and are borne on short spikes. Flowers of both sexes appear in spring with the leaves.

Orange-brown acorns are relatively small, only half an inch long, and ripen in the fall of their second year of development.

Simple, alternate leaves, five to nine inches long, are shiny green above and paler and fuzzy below. Two leaf forms are common: three lobes with shallow sinuses (common on younger trees) or five to seven lobes with deeper sinuses. The leaf often resembles a turkey foot with one very long hooked terminal lobe with two shorter lobes on the sides.

The Natural History Museum reports Quercus falcata as a host for the following butterfly species:

Fixsenia favonius
Satyrium calanus

The Natural History Museum reports Quercus falcata as a host for the following Saturniidae species:

Anisota consularis
Anisota peigleri
Anisota stigma
Anisota virginiensis
Antheraea pernyi
Antheraea polyphemus
Hemileuca maia

Tree information is from Aggie Horticulture

This page designed and maintained by Bill Oehlke as an extension of the

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Sphingidae of the Americas, a free public access site with pictures and information about the Sphingidae (Hawkmoths) of the Americas.

North American Catocala, a free public access site with pictures and information about the Catocala (Underwing moths) of Canada and the United States.

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