Oak Trees-Wildlife Oak Tree

The Live Oak Tree is a traditional shade tree to plant in the south, to shade houses and offices during the heat of summer. The leaves on the Live Oak Tree are evergreen and remain on the Live Oak Tree throughout the winter.

The customary time to plant a new shade tree is on Arbor Day, however, the fall, winter, and spring months are always good times to establish an Oak tree for shade during the sultry months of summer.

Oak trees improve oxygen content in the air for human survival. During the fall the spectacular on the Oak tree will draw the attention of your friends and neighbors.

Oak Shade Trees: Laurel, Live Oak, Red, White

Wildlife Oak Trees

The Oak tree is considered to be the most important tree in American forests, mainly as a lumber tree for flooring, construction, furniture and fuel. Call the TyTy Nursery today for fast delivery of your Oak Shade Trees!

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Oak Tree Populations of the United States

Oak trees are an important group of shade trees that produce over 50% of the hardwood lumber in the United States. The oak tree acorns are a stable food item to maintain wildlife populations in the National forests, as yard trees or in city plantings at parks and recreational areas. The oak acorns were an important food source for American Indians who crushed the nuts and boiled them in water to remove the bitter tannius. The oak “tannius” were also extracted from the bark of the oak tree to cure out wildlife animal skins, and the yellow dye was used to color garments.

The acorns are eaten by white tailed deer, squirrels, pheasants, wild turkeys, grouse, quail, mourning dove, black bear, red and gray fox, opossum, chipmunks, wood duck and wild hogs. The oak acorns are also eaten by domestic hogs, cattle, and even horses, however, horses have been shown to suffer and die from kidney aliments caused by tannin toxicity. Cottontail rabbits, deer, and opossum browse and eat the twigs of oak trees and deer, porcupine, and beaver eat the soft underlaying bark of oak trees.

Oak tree identification can be difficult for the amateur, and even professional foresters have difficulty in identifying some oak tree varieties. Generally the oak tree is identified by dividing into two groups: the white oak tree group and the red tree group. The white oaks generally have lobed leaves rounded and light colored tree bark and light colored acorns, whereas the red oak tree group has pointed leaf lobes, dark bark on the trunk and dark colored acorns. The oak tree acorn appears to be highly resistant to insects and disease, perhaps, protected by the toxin, tannic acid; and the acorns can remain as viable wildlife animal food on the ground for extended periods of time. The size of the acorn can vary considerably in different oak tree species, some growing as large as a pecan, 1 ½ inches, and others such as the Gobbler Oak Tree acorn, Quercus acutissima 'Gobbler' ½ inch.

The larger oak acorns appear to be selectively preferred to be eaten by larger animals such as the white tailed deer and small game birds such as quail and wild turkeys that prefer smaller acorns. The formation of acorns on a tree can vary considerably with the age of the oak tree. Some oak trees may bear acorns for 25-30 years, yet a four foot tall Sawtooth Oak or 4 foot Live Oak Tree may bear acorns the first year after transplanting. Many oak trees may require two years for the acorns to fully develop into a viable food source.

More than 300 species of oak trees have been identified by taxonomists as being distinctive in the group (Genus) of oak trees. Some oak trees such as the Live Oak, Quercus virginiana and Sand Live Oak Tree, Quercus geminata are evergreen in warm areas of the south, but most oak trees shed their leaves in the fall, winter, or early spring (deciduous). There is hardly a section in the United States where several oak tree species are not growing.

Oak trees are extremely important as timber, furniture making, tanning leather, dye industry, making paper (pulpwood),hardwood flooring, firewood, vegetable crates, but perhaps as important, national forests,wildlife food, and shade and lawn trees.

Bluejack Oak Tree

The blue coloring in the leaves of the Bluejack Oak Tree, Quercus incana gives the tree its name. The Bluejack Oak Tree ranges from Virginia south to Florida and westward to Texas. The mature tree can grow to 50 feet, but usually the Bluejack Oak Tree is small, shrubby, and forms thickets that give important shelter for many wildlife animals such as squirrels, foxes, deer, raccoons, and game birds. The acorns are small and are eaten readily by wildlife animals and birds.

Chapman Oak Tree

The Chapman Oak Tree,Quercus chapmanii grows as a native plant from the Carolinas south to Florida. Although the Chapman Oak Tree can grow to 50 feet., it is often smaller, even bushy and grows near sand dunes and in poor soils of the south. White tailed deer, squirrels, raccoons, and game birds eat the acorns and birds use the trees as nesting sites. The Chapman Oak thrives in the sandy soils of the south and appears to be salt water tolerant since it grows on the sand dunes of the Gulf and Atlantic Coast beaches.

Gobbler Oak Tree

The Gobbler Oak Tree, Quercus acutissima 'Gobbler' was developed by a research group in Kentucky as a wildlife oak variety more suitable to the feeding of turkey populations because only 150 acorns per pound are are much smaller and easier to eat by the turkey than the Sawtooth acorns that number about 50 acorns per pound. Large plantings of Gobbler Oak Trees are made near wildlife hunting sites, because the trees can grow as fast as 6 feet per year and produce acorns as early as 2 years. The Gobbler Oak Trees quickly attract turkey populations on a repeating annual visitation, not only by the turkey but other game wildlife animals who feed on the small acorns.

Sawtooth Oak Tree

The Sawtooth Oak Tree, Quercus acutissima 'Sawtooth' was imported into American from China and has been extensively planted as a yard tree, a shade tree, and as a plantation wildlife tree for feeding deer, game birds, squirrels, and many other wildlife animals. The Sawtooth Oak Tree offers many beneficial landscape bonuses such as extremely fast growth into a mature shade tree specimen in two or three seasons. The large oval shaped acorns can form in just two two after planting and appear to be the favorite and most inexpensive food source for wildlife food plot planters, because of the Sawtooth Oak acorns that quickly mature in the fall when wildlife food is scarce for birds, deer, and wildlife animals.

When used as a shade tree, a gardener can expect growth of 6 feet the first year that rapidly matures to shade the office or home. The elongated willow-like seven inch leaves of the Sawtooth Oak Tree are toothed and colored a lustrous green. During the fall the Sawtooth Oak Tree leaves turn yellow and then orange to give a pyramid-tree shade that becomes round at maturity. The Sawtooth Oak Tree can also be grown very successfully along city streets to shade sidewalks, parks, recreational areas, and to purify the caustic fumes of diesel and gasoline engines.

Turkey Oak Tree

The Turkey Oak Tree, Quercus laevis is found growing in ranges from Virginia south to Florida, and west to Texas as a native tree that is well adapted to grow on poor soils and can be found growing in association with Bluejack Oak and Post Oak Trees in Longleaf Pine Tree forests. The Turkey Oak Tree usually is small when compared to other Oak trees growing about 20-30 feet. The Turkey Oak Tree grows small acorns similar to Gobbler Oak Tree acorns that are voraciously eaten by turkey and many other small wildlife game birds and small wildlife animals. The wood is used commercially as firewood and only rarely as hardwood flooring when found as large Turkey Oak Trees.

White Oak Tree

The White Oak Tree, Quercus alba, is one of the largest Oak trees in native forests and is prized as the state tree in Illinois, Connecticut, and Maryland.

A large 84 ft tall and 4 feet in diameter White Oak Tree has been indexed in the Oak forests of Ohio, and the White Oak Tree has a life span of hundreds of years and appears to be very resistant to insect and disease problems.

The acorns of the White Oak Tree are eaten by deer, game birds, and many other wildlife animals. The early American Indians made a variety of recipes from the White Oak acorns. The white bark of the White Oak Tree is very attractive as a landscape specimen tree, and the attractive inner wood of the White Oak Tree is choice for oak hardwood floors and for furniture manufacturing.

The White Oak Trees grow best on well drained soils and are widely adapted as a native forest tree throughout the United States, and is the most common Oak tree in American forests. The White Oak Tree is salt water tolerant and forms a tap root, even in the juvenile stage of growth.

Black Oak Tree

The Black Oak, Quercus velutina, has huge green leaves with a green velvety underside. The Black Oak Tree is distributed throughout the eastern United States., north to MI and ME an south to Florida and west to Texas. The native Black Oak Tree is adapted to poor soils and thrives on neglect in dry soils. The Black Oak acorns are brown and ripen in late summer for feeding game birds and wildlife animals when wildlife food is scarce in the Fall and Winter.

Wildlife animals that feed on the Black Oak are turkey, white tailed deer, and squirrels. The Black Oak gets it's name "black oak", because the deeply grooved bark when mature can become soot black, however, the interior bark glows as a yellow-gold color; hence, an alternate name, "Yellow Oak Tree". The Black Oak when mature can grow 100 feet tall and reach an age of 200 years old. From a distance the Black Oak Tree looks similar to the Red Oak Tree, and the wood is sold as Red Oak. The inner yellow bark of the Black Oak Tree is extracted commercially to form a yellow dye.

Cherrybark Oak Tree

The Cherrybark Oak Tree, Quercus falcata var Pagodafolia, can grow to a mature height of 130 feet, larger than other red oak trees. The wood of the Cherrybark Oak Tree can be used as hardwood flooring, marketed as red oak wood floors. The Cherrybark Oak Tree grows fast and the acorns of the Cherrybark Oak Tree are a valuable food source for wildlife animals and game birds. As a shade tree the Cherrybark Oak Tree ranks high with other genera of Southern Red Oak Trees; and often the Cherrybark Oak Tree is called the Swamp Red Oak Tree.

Chinquapin Oak Tree

The leaves of the Chinquapin Oak Tree, Quercus muehlenbergii lack bristle tips, and the acorns mature in a single season. The Chinquapin Oak Shade Tree is a medium sized tree in the white oak group. The coarsely toothed leaves of the Chinquapin Oak Shade Tree are yellowish-green in the Summer and turn yellow-brown or red in the Fall. The bark of the Chinquapin Oak Tree is gray-brown and scaly and quite distinct in the landscape. The Chinquapin Oak Shade Tree blooms late in the Spring months. The Chinquapin Oak Shade Tree grows straight up to 60 ft. tall, and 1-2 ft. wide. The Chinquapin Oak Shade Tree provides excellent shade for recreational areas.

Darlington Oak Tree

The Darlington Oak Tree, Quercus hemisphaerica is one of the prized giant Oak trees that originated in the southeast forest. The simple oval leaves of the Darlington Oak Shade Tree are dark green and persist until February. The leaves of the Darlington Oak Shade Tree turn a shiny golden-yellow in the Fall months. The Darlington Oak Shade Tree is one of the largest growing shade trees. The Darlington Oak Shade Tree is a 140 year old National Champion tree. The Darlington Oak Shade Tree has a circumference of 19.5 ft. near Wrens, GA. The Darlington Oak Shade Tree can grow to 70 ft. tall and is adaptable in full sun or partial shade. The Darlington Oak is planted in city parks and recreational areas throughout the United States.

Laurel Oak Tree

The Laurel Oak Tree, Quercus laurifolia is extensively planted in the South and West as a landscape garden tree or in tree groups lined out along highways and roads to purify the noxious fumes from automobiles exhaust pipes. The Laurel Oak Tree is a moderate grower and produces abundant crops of acorns that are eaten vigorously by White Tail Deer, game birds such as Quail, Dove, Turkey, and Ducks and by squirrels and raccoons.

The acorns turn a brown black color on the Laurel Oak Tree in December and will cover the ground around Christmas when wildlife animal food is scarce. A mature Laurel Oak Tree can grow as tall as 100 feet, however, few native or artificially transplanted trees grow more than 60 feet. Record specimens of Laurel Oak Trees can mature with a tree diameter of 4 feet.

The Laurel Oak Tree wood has been used to make paper from the pulpwood. Tall Laurel Oak Trees are sawed into commercial timber and misshapen Laurel Oak Trees are often sawed into firewood. The Laurel Oak Tree thrives in soil types from Virginia to Florida and then westward to Texas. Laurel Oak Trees grow in wet soils or dry sandy areas and survive droughts better than most oak cultivars.

Live Oak Tree

The Live Oak Tree, Quercus virginiana is a traditional shade tree to plant in the south, to shade houses and offices during the heat of summer. The leaves on the Live Oak Tree are evergreen and remain on the Live Oak Tree throughout the winter. The Live Oak Shade Tree is one of the most desirable landscape and ornamental trees. The Live Oak Shade Tree grows to 40-60 ft. in height, and the trunk can grow 6 ft. in diameter. The Live Oak Shade Tree also has a gigantic spread up to 100 ft. The bark is reddish brown to gray and deeply furrowed. William Bartram, an early American explorer, in 1776 first described the Live Oak Shade Tree as: "the expansive umbrageous Live Oak with its awesome veneration." The Live Oak Shade Tree is the official state tree of Georgia, and the tree grows from Virginia to Florida and westward to Texas. The Live Oak Shade Tree likes moist well-drained soil and is drought resistant once established. The Live Oak Shade Tree tolerates auto exhaust fumes and grows as a stately, majestic avenue tree in southern cities.

Northern Red Oak Tree

The Northern Red Oak Tree, Quercus rubra is found growing from Canada, northern United States, and south to Georgia where the species is native. The leaves turn brilliantly red during the fall and the Northern Red Oak Tree can grown over 100 feet tall with a trunk diameter of 3 feet. The Northern Red Oak Tee is an excellent specimen shade tree and the wood is in high demand for flooring, lumber, and some furniture. The bark of the Northern Red Oak Tree is distinctive when mature with silvery metallic stripes appearing up and down the trunk.

When grown as a shade tree, the Northern Red Oak Tree has a straight trunk with branches that grow horizontally at right angles that form a round canopy at the top. The Northern Red Oak Tree is well adapted to grow in most soil types, and flourishes near streams. The acorns of the Northern Red Oak Tree are loaded with tannic acid giving a bitter taste, but never the less the acorns are vigorously eaten by deer, squirrels, game birds, and wildlife animals. The bark of the Northern Red Oak Tree is rich in tunnic acid and the bark extract is valuable to use in tanning leather.

Nuttall Oak Tree

The Nuttall Oak Tree, Quercus texana is a choice oak shade tree for planting in the deep south, where fall color is scarce. The Nuttall Oak Tree is popular as a shade tree because of its fast growth-a characteristic that is not common for oak trees. The Nuttall Oak Tree is easily mistaken for a Pin Oak Tree, Quercus palustris, however, most nurserymen recommend planting the Nuttall Oak Tree over the Pin Oak Tree because of its superior reliable fall color and its adaptability to dry soils as well as wet soil types.

The acorn drop occurs in early fall when wildlife animal food is scarce and many wildlife oak trees retain the acorns in the top branches until January. The Nuttall Oak Tree can be found growing from Florida to northern Tennessee and westward to Missouri. The Nuttall Oak Tree can grow as tall as 100 feet and its fast growth makes it excellent to plant as yard specimen or it cities, parks, along sidewalks, and highways. The Nuttall Oak wood is often a choice for hardwood flooring lumber and furniture.

Overcup Oak Tree

The Overcup Oak Tree, Quercus lyrata is a very slow growing oak tree but can grow 100 feet tall, however, acorn production for wildlife animals does not occur until the Overcup Oak Tree ages to 30 years. The Overcup Oak Tree will produce a shade tree eventually, but the tree does not grow straight or fast and the lumber from the Overcup Oak Tree is extensively knotted--a characteristic that can be controversial.

Pin Oak Tree

The Pin Oak, Quercus palustrus (Swamp Red Oak) grows best in wet locations and near swamps. The Pin Oak is native to the United States and is planted as a popular garden specimen for its heavy summer shade and bright leaf color change in the fall, even in the deep south. The leaves of the Pin Oak tree turn brown during the winter but often stay on the tree through winter and spring until the new leaves form.

The dead branches, shaded out, of the Pin Oak Tree also hang on the tree sometimes on the tree for years and the twigs cluster on the limbs thick and sharp giving the Pin Oak its descriptive name. The unusual fibrows root system on the Pin Oak Tree makes the tree easy to transplant into wide localities and soil profiles. The Pin Oak grows fast, sometimes, two or more feet each year, remarkable for an Oak tree. The Pin Oak Tree is salt water tolerant and native to most of the eastern United States, however, it is not really tolerant of alkaline soils that cause yellowing (chlorosis) of the leaves, but can be remedied by adding Iron Chelate under the tree.

Post Oak Tree

The Post Oak Tree, Quercus stellata was used by early American pioneers to make fence posts--hence the name Post Oak. The post made from this oak tree is highly resistant to rot and lasts well when in contact with wet soil types. The Post Oak Tree grows as a native tree from central Florida north to Connecticut and westward to Texas. The leaves of the Post Oak Tree grow in the shape of a maltese cross.

Red Southern Oak Tree

The Red Southern Oak Tree, Quercus falcata is considered by botanists to be separate but very similar to the Cherrybark Red Oak Tree, Quercus falcata var pagodafolia, Also called the Spanish Oak Tree, the Red Southern Oak Tree grows extensively in the southern United States in a wide variety of soil types. Often grown as a street tree, a home shade tree, or a park tree, the Red Southern Oak Tree is a medium sized tree with brilliant red leaf color in the fall. The hard dense oak wood of the Red Southern Oak Tree is durable to use as hardwood flooring, furniture, and general construction. Wildlife white tailed deer, game birds, and other wildlife animals depend on the acorns of the Red Southern Oak Tree as a food source.

Running Oak Tree

The rare Running Oak Tree, Quercus pumila grows as a native tree from Miami, Florida to northern Virginia and westward through the state of Mississippi. This dwarf oak tree can be easily distinguished by its running nature where it grows in clumps 3 feet tall, thriving along sandy beaches and poor soils to offer many small wildlife animals and game birds shelter and food from large clusters of acorns that form on the branches of the Running Oak Tree.

Sand Live Oak Tree

The Sand Live Oak Tree, Quercus geminata can be found growing from central Florida to northern Virginia and westward through Mississippi. The Sand Live Oak Tree can grow as a shrub or bush on very sandy, poor soils or it can in some cases grow as tall as 70 feet. The leaves of the Sand Live Oak Tree are bright green and turn downward at the tips and often hang from the twigs like an inverted boat. The leaves of the Sand Live Oak are similar to the Southern Live Oak in shape and are basically evergreen in most years. The acorns are formed in pairs in the Sand Live Oak twigs and the trees appear to be salt water tolerant.

Shumard Oak Tree

The Shumard Oak Tree, Quercus shumardii is also called the Texas Oak Tree and is adapted to grow from Texas north to Canada and southward to Florida. The Shumard Oak Tree towers as one of the largest specimen oak trees-120 feet and can live to an age of 500 years. The Shumard Oak Tree does not produce acorns until age 25, however, the large acorn is a good food source for many wildlife animals and game birds. The leaf color is a brilliant maroon color during the fall, and the tree when planted as a shade tree near houses does not compete with other plant aggressively. The Shumard Oak Tree is valuable as a hardwood flooring and furniture making.

Swamp Chestnut Oak Tree

The leaves of the Swamp Chestnut Oak Tree, Quercus michauxii are large, sometimes one foot is length and circled with prominent teeth like those found in the Chinquapin Oak Tree, Quercus muelenbergii. The acorns of the Swamp Chestnut Oak Tree are large, occasionally reaching 1 1/2 inches in length on fertile soils. Some cattlemen plant rows of the Swamp Chestnut Oak Trees, because farm animals like hogs and cattle fond the acorns sweet to eat. The acorns are also a valuable food source for wildlife animals and game birds.

The range of Swamp Chestnut Oak Trees reaches from Florida northward to New Jersey, and est to Texas and Missouri. Large specimen oak trees of the Swamp Chestnut Oak Trees can grow 120 feet tall. Wetlands and bottomlands are ideal for growing the Swamp Chestnut Oak Tree, and as a large oak shade tree the Swamp Chestnut Oak Tree works well as a landscape specimen.

Sometimes the Swamp Chestnut Oak Tree is called the Basket Oak, because early American settlers in the Appalachian areas found the wood could be sliced into thin strips and weaved into baskets. Many of these basket shops sell their wares along highways in Tennessee and North Carolina to tourists.

Water Oak Tree

The Water Oak Tree, Quercus nigra is widely established throughout the southern cities, where it is commonly planted in lines along highways and parks. The Water Oak Tree is a fast growing shade tree and normally will grow about 8 feet per year until it reaches a height of 50-60 feet. At age 50 or more the Water Oak Tree becomes susceptible to wind damage and the invasion of insects and disease after rot begins in untreated limb breakage wounds. The Water Oak Tree produces several bushels of acorns at the age of 20 which are eaten by wildlife birds, squirrels, and deer.

The spatula shaped leaves are bright green and almost evergreen, some green leaves of the Water Oak Tree remain attached to lower branches throughout the winter months. The Water Oak Tree is known to readily hybridize with several other oak species though a mechanism called "introgression"-reaching distant oak tree plantings through wind pollination of the flowers to form acorns.

The wood of the Water Oak can be used as timber, however, the most common uses is in vegetable crates and boxes after slicing the Water Oak wood into very thin boards held together with wires. The leaves of the Water Oak can turn golden yellow during winter freezes.

White Swamp Oak Tree

The White Swamp Oak Tree, Quercus bicolor is distinct in having peeling bark on branches, much like river birch trees, and the leaves are bicolor-waxy green on top and whitish underneath the leaf. The White Swamp Oak Tree hybirdizes with other oak trees readily and is found growing in the swamp areas and bottomlands of the United States. The acorns of the White Swamp Oak Trees are a choice food source for wildlife animals such as white tailed deer, game birds, squirrels, and other wildlife animals. As a shade tree the White Swamp Oak Tree provides a heavy shade and transplants from nursery pots easily into landscapes where the tree can live for several hundred years.

Willow Oak Tree

The Willow Oak tree, Quercus phellos is a popular, beautiful landscape tree with slender leaves shaped like weeping willow leaves. The Willow Oak Tree grows fast, about 2 feet per year and gives a heavy shade for the sultry heat of the deep south. The narrow leaves turn brilliant yellow in the fall, and because the Willow leaves are so small they are easy to rake in the fall, but most of them disappear easy in the grass to form a convenient lawn mulch.

The leaf color is light green and waxy-growing well in full sun or shade. The most popular use of the Willow Oak is as a street tree, because it grows well along streets and highways of cities, apparently unaffected by obnoxious auto fumes, which are absorbed, cleaned, and recycled by photosynthesis of the leaves. The lumber is often sold as red oak but also is in high demand as pulp wood for the manufacture of paper; its primary use is an an ornamental landscape tree.

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