North Carolina Shrubs & Trees

Fagaceae > Quercus (oak)

Statewide and common in North Carolina forested habitats. Leaf lobes are rounded.

Very young leaves with flower catkins.

Bark of larger trees forms shaggy plate-like shingles.

Older bark near base of trees is much tighter.

Statewide in North Carolina, common in the eastern half in upland forests and wooded habitats. Leaves are often described as cross-shaped and have stellate (star-shaped) clusters of hairs as seen with a hand-lens.

Fading flower clusters (catkins).

Also referred to as Quercus prinus, Chestnut Oak is common on hilltops in the NC piedmont & mountains.

Leaves are coursely blunt-toothed (or evenly shallowly lobed).

Immature acorns shown here.

When acorns mature, which occurs in the same year as produced, the cup will covers about a third of the nut. The nuts are often quite colorful as they mature, including yellow and red hues until ultimately cecoming a rich, shiny brown.

Bark of mature trees is gray and very blocky.

Leaves are somewhat oddly shaped with blunt lobes ending in a mucronate tip. Leaves usually have a narrow or restricted area near the base.

Looking up at the Overcup Oak canopy.

Acorn nuts are virtually completely covered by their caps.

Like most oaks in the white oak group, bark is light colored.

Bark of medium tree.

Mature trees often buttress at their bases as a result of living in mud or frequently standing water.

Common along the Outer Coastal Plain in NC

Acorns mature in the same year they were formed.

Leaves are very tough and generally evergreen.

Leaves are mildly revolute and pubescent-glaucus below.

Old female flowers?

Live Oak can be a fairly large tree or form a thick hedge.

Bark detail

Statewide in NC and fairly common in dry, upland forests. Shown here are young leaves with flowers.

Leaves are shiny both above and below and have large, rounded "C-shaped" sinuses.

Winter buds are gray/silver tipped.

Acorn are medium sized with cups usually covering 1/3 to 1/2 the nut. On some nuts, concentric circles are observed from the bottom tip of the nut.

Bark of medium tree has narrow flattened ridges with shallow furrows in between.

Statewide in NC in dryish forests. Young leaves with flowering catkins.

Bark with flattened ridges and shallow furrows that do not continue all the way to the ground.

Bark of older, larger, open-grown tree.

Shape of medium-sized open-grown tree.

Shape of larger open-grown tree.

Endemic to the southeastern coastal plain of the US, Cherrybark Oak grows in bottomlands in the eastern half of NC.

Leaf undersides are fuzzy.

Twigs, buds, and leaf undersides are finely fuzzy.

Fall buds are reddish.

Fall buds.

Bark with vines and a leaf

Cherrybark Oak trees may become quite large and majestic in bottomland habitats.

Leaves somewhat resemble the outline of a turkey foot, hence the common name.

Bark of small-medium tree.

Leaves are fairly large, very shallowly lobed, and often described as club-shaped with a wide leaf tip narrowing to the leaf base.

Bark is black and blocky. Blackjack Oaks is a small to medium tree and usually grow on dry, often sandy, nutrient poor soils in NC.

Common in mesic to dry forest habitats, especially on ridges and slopes. Mature tree bark has shallow furrows and flatted ridges "like ski slopes" that go nearly to the base of the tree.

Northern Red Oaks tower through the canopy.

Common statewide in forest with soils slightly dry and/or sandy.

Seedling and sapling Black Oaks often have large leaves that are nearly unlobed.

Buds are 4-angled and hairy with the hairs often starting reddish and becoming grayish when the buds mature in winter.

Acorn caps generally cover about half of the nut. Scales on the caps are shaggy with loose tips.

Bark of young tree.

Bark of older tree. Note Black Oak bark generally lacks well-defined, flattened ridges, especially near the base of the trunk. The inner bark is orange, and hints of that color can be seen in the furrows.

Rare to uncommon in bottomlands and/or over calcareous soils in NC.

Leaves are shiny, large, and have many lobes with many bristle teeth.

Buds are angled and eventually turn straw-colored. Twigs are pale.

Bark stays relatively smooth, although it becomes fissured with age.

Occurring naturally, Pin Oak is fairly rare and local in bottomlands of the NC piedmont. It's frequently planted as landscape trees along sidewalks and streets however. Leaves are fairly small (~5 inches), shiny, and with deep sinuses.

Lower branches appear messy and swoop downward.

Bark smooth in small trees.

Bark fairly smooth with shallow fissures in medium tree.

Common in the eastern half of North Carolina, Willow Oak grows in a variety of habitats. It's also commonly planted along streets, parks, and developments in cities.

Young leaves developing during flowering season.

When grown in open habitats, Willow Oaks have large, rounded crowns, as seen here on the Duke University campus in late winter.

Found in moist soils, particularly martime forests, in the North Carolina Coastal Plain.

Essentially evergreen, Swamp Laurel Oak leaves are highly variable, often distinctly diamond-shaped.

Mature acorns are often dark and striped.

Twig detail, showing acorns, lenticels, and leaf scars.

Buds are reddish and pointed. Leaves are greenish and at least slightly pubescent underneath.

Vigorous sapling growth.

Bark detail of medium-sized tree.

Uncommon to rare in NC in the mountains & piedmont, usually near rivers.

Common in the NC sandhills, uncommon elsewhere in the NC coastal plain and southern piedmont.

Like other oaks, Bluejack Oak puts out catkins of flowers in the spring.

Bluejack Oak leaves are blue-ish white underneath.

Bark is dark, rough, and often blocky.

Common in wet areas in the NC piedmont & coastal plain.

young bark

older bark