Quercus imbricaria, the shingle oak, is a deciduous tree in the red oak group of oaks. It is native primarily to the Midwestern and Upper South regions of North America.

Description

Quercus imbricaria is usually 15 – high, maximum height 100 ft, with a broad pyramidal head when young, becoming in old age, broad-topped and open. Trunk up to 1 m in diameter (rarely 1.4 m or 56 in). It reaches its largest size in southern Illinois and Indiana, although the national champion is 104' by 68' in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is distinguished from most other oaks by its leaves, which are shaped like laurel leaves, 8 – long and 1.5–7.5 cm broad with an untoothed margin; they are bright green above, paler and somewhat downy beneath.

Hybrids

Quercus × leana Nutt. (Q. velutina x Q. imbricaria) (Lea's hybrid oak), is a naturally occurring hybrid of the black oak and shingle oak, growing to 20 m, a native of south-eastern North America, also found in a few European collections.

Distribution and habitat

It is native primarily to the Midwestern and Upper South regions of North America, from southern New York west to northern Illinois and eastern Kansas, and south to central Alabama and Arkansas. It is abundant in the lower Ohio Valley and middle Mississippi Valley, and rare in the east. It is most commonly found growing in uplands with good drainage, less often along lowland streams, at altitudes of 100–700 m.

Ecology

The acorn is an important food for squirrels and some birds.

Uses

In the past, the wood was important for making shingles, from which the common name derives.