Plant: Nuttal Oak Tree
Nuttal Oak Tree · Quercus texana
Size: 15 gal
Light
Bloom
Mature size
More about this plant
Nuttall oak is a deciduous shade tree native to southern bottomland forests, growing fast to 40 to 80 feet tall with a rounded crown 30 to 60 feet across. Its deeply lobed leaves emerge reddish purple, mature dark green and give a vivid display of brilliant red to red orange fall and winter colour. Yellowish green catkins appear in spring and are followed by small oval acorns in fall. It wants full sun and tolerates clay, loam or sand, acid to neutral pH, occasional wet soil and urban conditions, and it is deer and drought resistant. It serves as a larval host for many moths and butterflies. Young leaves and raw acorns cause stomach upset if eaten.
- Full Sun
- Grows to 80 ft tall and 60 ft wide
- Blooms in spring
- Hardy in USDA zones 6-9
- Deciduous foliage
- Native plant
Plant description
Nuttall oak is a deciduous shade tree native to southern bottomland forests, growing fast to 40 to 80 feet tall with a rounded crown 30 to 60 feet across. Its deeply lobed leaves emerge reddish purple, mature dark green and give a vivid display of brilliant red to red orange fall and winter colour. Yellowish green catkins appear in spring and are followed by small oval acorns in fall. It wants full sun and tolerates clay, loam or sand, acid to neutral pH, occasional wet soil and urban conditions, and it is deer and drought resistant. It serves as a larval host for many moths and butterflies. Young leaves and raw acorns cause stomach upset if eaten.
- Foliage
- Alternate simple leaves 4 to 9 inches long with 5 to 9 deeply cut lobes, reddish purple as new growth then dark green, colouring brilliant red to red orange in fall.
- Fruit
- Oval acorns three quarters to one inch long with a shallow thin scaly brown cap covering a third to a half of the nut, maturing in two years.
- Bark & stems
- Grey brown and smooth when young, turning black with flat ridges with age.
- Native range
- Central southern United States (AL, AR, IL, KY, LA, MO, MS, TN, TX)
