Texas Red Oak
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Quercus buckleyi
FAMILY: Fagaceae
This tree in Colorado: The Tulip Poplar is a very site-sensitive tree, favoring full sun and moist, well drained, slightly acid soil. The roots are wide spreading and massive, so this tree will do best if given plenty room to grow.
Hardiness: USDA Hardiness Zones 6 - 11
Native Habitat: TX, OK, KS Restricted habitat associated with limestone ridges, slopes and creek bottoms.
Growth Habit and Rate: Small to medium tree to 15 m (50 ft) tall. 24 or more inches of height growth per year.
Foliage: Leaves alternate, elliptical or obovate, 6-12 cm (2.4-4.8 in) long and 5-10 cm (2-4 in) wide, deeply divided into 5-9 (usually 7) lobes which are usually broadest toward the tip and end in several bristle-tipped teeth, shiny dark green above, pale green with tufts of hairs in vein axils below, turning brown or red in fall.
Flowers and Fruit: Fruits are acorns maturing in the second year, egg-shaped, 12-18 mm (0.5-0.7 in) long and 8-14 mm (0.3-0.6 in) wide with a more or less shallow cup covering 1/3-1/2. Brown inconspicuous flowers in Spring. Has separate male and female flowers on the same tree (monoecious).
Bark: Dark gray, smoothish, furrowed into ridges on lower trunk and older branches.
Twigs: Slender, grayish or brownish, glabrous, ending in a cluster of small egg-shaped grayish or brownish buds.
Insects and Diseases: Resistant to Verticillium. Susceptible to Caterpillars, Borer, Aphids, Scales, Leaf Miner and Insect Galls, Armillaria, Anthracnose, Canker, Leaf Spot, Powdery Mildew and Root Rot.
Landscape value: Q. buckleyi is more drought tolerant than the Shumard oak, but less hardy. This tree tolerates alkaline soil as well as neutral and slightly acidic soil. It is a super shade tree and being used and tested in various communities along the Front Range.
Information sources:
Photo by Wilson Landscape