Quercus imbricaria
Common name: 
Shingle Oak
Pronunciation: 
KWER-kus im-bri-KA-ri-a
Family: 
Fagaceae
Genus: 
Quercus
Type: 
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon: 
No
  • Deciduous tree, 50-60(80) ft [15-18(24) m] tall, similar or greater spread, pyramidal when young, round-topped when old.  Leaves alternate, simple, oblong to lanceolate, 7-16 cm long, acute or rounded at the ends, tip may be bristle-like, margin slightly thickened and revolute (turned under), dark green and glabrous above, pale green or brownish and pubescent below; petioles 5-15 mm long; unfolding leaves in spring are reddish, the fall foliage colors are yellow-brown to russet-red, old leaves may persist through winter.  Flowers small, male flowers in catkins 5-7.5 cm long, female flowers axillary on new growth, appear with the leaves.  Fruit (acorn) hemispherical, 1-1.5 cm long, short stalked, enclosed 1/3 to 1/2 by a turbine-like cap, mature the second year.
  • Sun.  Best in moist, well-drained, rich, acid soils, but tolerates drier soils and city conditions.  Reportedly easy to grow.
  • Hardy to USDA Zone 4     Native range from Pennsylvania to Georgia, west to Wisconsin and eastern Kansas and Arkansas.
  • imbricaria: Latin imbrex, a tile, hence overlapping in regular order like shingles, apparently after the use of the wood for shingles by early settlers in Illinois (Jacobson, 1996).
  • Shingle Oak: wood used in making shingles.
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  • new leaves

    new leaves

  • plant habit

    plant habit

  • summer foliage

    summer foliage

  • leaves

    leaves

  • leaf

    leaf

  • leaf

    leaf

  • developing acorns

    developing acorns

  • leaves and acorns

    leaves and acorns

  • maturing acorns

    maturing acorns

  • plant habit, summer and fall

    plant habit, summer and fall

  • leaves, fall

    leaves, fall

  • trunk, bark

    trunk, bark

  • winter twig, buds

    winter twig, buds