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Quercus coccinea
Also called Red Oak
Scarlet oak is a fast-growing, medium to large deciduous tree from eastern North America, grown mainly for its brilliant red autumn colour. It needs full sun and well-drained, acidic soil to do well.
Quercus coccinea, the scarlet oak, is a deciduous tree in the red oak section Lobatae of the genus Quercus, in the family Fagaceae.
It is primarily distributed in the central and eastern United States. It occurs on dry, sandy, usually acidic soil. It is often an important canopy species in oak–heath forests. The scarlet oak is the official tree of Washington, D.C.
It is primarily distributed in the central and eastern United States, from southern Maine west to Wisconsin, Michigan and Missouri, and south as far as Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia. The tree needs full exposure to sunlight for best growth. Its preferred soil ranges from dry to somewhat dry well-drained, acidic soil.
Scarlet oak is sometimes planted as an ornamental tree, popular for its bright red fall color. The cultivar 'Splendens' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Quercus affinis · Coast Live Oak · White Oak · Golden Oak · Scrub oak · Brant's oak · Turkey Oak · Canyon Live Oak · Daimyo oak · Blue oak · Leather oak · Northern pin oak
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Quercus coccinea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
