Plant: Nuttal Oak Tree

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)

Plant details