Also called ♒︎ swamp Spanish oak, although do not confuse with sister-species pin oak  Quercus palustris, which is also sometimes called that.

In 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 North America, do not confuse with similar-named sister-species ◼︎ northern red oak  Quercus rubra, both among the ◼︎ red oaks.

Part of oak  genus Quercus in beech / oak  family Fagaceae in bayberry / beech / birch / oak / walnut  order Fagales.

Native to 🇺🇸 USA South, Ohio River Valley, 🗻︎ Appalachian Mountains, mid-Atlantic and Southeast.   🗺 Map by county (🇺🇸 USA-48) (color key), 🗺 map (North America, Central America),  Adobe Acrobat Reader file 🗺 today + with climate change (eastern 🇺🇸 USA).

In these areas:

  • do not move firewood (ever), and
  • do not prune February through June (Texas) or April 15 through July 15 (🇺🇸 USA Midwest and East),
due to possible infestation by oak wilt disease (OWD)  Bretziella fagacearum.

Uses by native peoples
(Ethnobotany database)
  ♧🌰︎☠︎ Leaves and acorns toxic[?] to humans, although many cultures process acorns to remove their tannins, making acorns an important staple food.

Quercus hosts caterpillars of 534 species
of butterflies and moths, in some areas.
  This plant is also known to be a host for (in areas where invasive) 🐝︎ spotted lanternfly (SLF)  Lycorma delicatula.

If your oak is growing a few meters (yards) from a potential parent tree, its 🌰︎ acorn probably fell there, or was cached and forgotten by a squirrel  family Sciuridae.

If your oak is growing a kilometer (mile) away from a potential parent tree, its 🌰︎ acorn probably was cached and forgotten by a 🐦︎ jay  family Corvidae, with whom it coevolved.

    — That and lots more interesting information in interview "Our Most Essential Trees: The Nature of Oaks, with Doug Tallamy"  The joe gardener Show.  or its 🔊︎ audio

Learn more about ◼︎ southern red oak Quercus falcata

🔍︎ 🔍︎ images Discover Life Encyclopedia of Life Missouri Botanical Garden Flora of North America USDA PLANTS db USFS USFS Silvics Wikipedia