Scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea): what the agencies record

This page reports what US federal publications say about one tree. It does not identify trees from descriptions or photos and does not say what should be done with any tree. The family overview, tree species in the agency records, explains the sources and holds the comparison table.

At a glance

Item	What the source records
Scientific name	Quercus coccinea Muenchh., beech family
Other names	Black oak, red oak and Spanish oak (Silvics)
Native status, USDA PLANTS	Native in the lower 48 states
Size, Silvics	A medium-sized tree, normally maturing at 18 to 24 m (60 to 80 ft) tall and 61 to 91 cm (24 to 36 in) in diameter; maximum size about 30 m (100 ft) tall and 122 cm (48 in) across
Green weight of the wood, NRS-38	64 lb per cubic foot, without bark

Native range

The Silvics of North America handbook (Agriculture Handbook 654, volume 2, 1990) says scarlet oak is best known for its brilliant autumn colour and is a large, rapid-growing tree of the Eastern United States found on a variety of soils in mixed forests, especially light sandy and gravelly upland ridges and slopes, with its best development in the Ohio River Basin. It records a range from southwestern Maine west to New York, Ohio, southern Michigan and Indiana, south to southern Illinois, southeastern Missouri and central Mississippi, east to southern Alabama and southwestern Georgia, and north along the western edge of the Coastal Plain to Virginia. The handbook describes a humid climate with annual precipitation from 760 mm (30 in) on the western edge to 1,400 mm (55 in) in the southeast, and actual temperatures from a minimum of -33 degrees Celsius (-28 degrees Fahrenheit) in the north to a maximum near 41 degrees Celsius (105 degrees Fahrenheit) in the south. It says the tree is a popular shade tree, widely planted in the United States and Europe, and is desirable for yard, street and park because of its autumn colour, open crown texture and rapid growth.

Flowers and growth

Silvics describes scarlet oak as monoecious, flowering in April or May depending on latitude, elevation and weather, with two growing seasons needed for the acorns to mature. The handbook says the tree grows rapidly and matures early, reaching economic maturity at 46 to 58 cm (18 to 23 in) in diameter depending on vigour class. In diameter growth it ranks ahead of or equal to its associated oaks: among 11 species compared in pole-size stands in the Central States, only yellow-poplar and black walnut had faster 10-year diameter growth, and on poor sites it probably grows faster than any associate.

Roots

The handbook says scarlet oak seedlings develop a strong taproot with relatively few lateral roots, and that difficulties in transplanting the species may be related to its coarse root system and slow rate of root regeneration.

Wood

Silvics says that in commerce scarlet oak lumber is mixed with that of other red oaks. The Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282, 2021) describes the red oak group of the Eastern states on the northern red oak page; its Table 5-3b has a separate row for scarlet oak, shown below.

Wood Handbook Table 5-3b	Specific gravity	Modulus of rupture (lbf per square inch)	Side hardness (lbf)
Green	0.60	10,400	1,200
At 12% moisture content	0.67	17,400	1,400

The Wood Handbook states that specific gravity is based on oven-dry weight and the volume when green or at 12% moisture content. The green weight of the wood without bark is in the NRS-38 table, the same figure used in the log weight calculator.

Diseases, insects and damage the handbook names

Silvics (1990) names these agents by the names it used.

Fire and heart rot. Because of its thin bark scarlet oak is very susceptible to fire damage, and if not killed outright the tree is usually injured so that sap or heart rots enter. Heart rots can enter through branch stubs at an early age and are especially common in stump sprouts originating high on the stump: in one study decay in sprouts starting at or below ground line was 9 percent, against 44 percent for sprouts 2.5 cm (1 in) or more above ground, with Stereum gausapatum the most common cause.
Oak wilt. Ceratocystis fagacearum, to which the handbook says scarlet oak is susceptible, with trees attacked sometimes dying within a month of the first symptoms. The guides oak wilt and oak wilt by state and province cover the disease and where it is listed.
Cankers. Nectria cankers and Strumella coryneoidea, which the handbook says are especially severe from Virginia northward.
Defoliators and decline. The oak leaftier, fall cankerworm, forest tent caterpillar, gypsy moth (also called spongy moth, see the spongy moth page) and orangestriped oakworm. The handbook says repeated defoliation together with spring frosts is thought to be the primary cause of decline and mortality of scarlet oak and other red oaks in Pennsylvania, and that scarlet oak decline in the Missouri Ozarks has been linked to a complex of insects, disease, drought and soil-site relations. The walkingstick may severely defoliate it in the north of the range.
Borers. The twolined chestnut borer, called a secondary pest following drought, fire, frost damage or defoliation (twolined chestnut borer page); carpenterworms; ambrosia beetles and the oak timberworm in freshly cut or wounded trees; and the red oak borer, whose larvae bore into the phloem of living trees over 5 cm (2 in) in diameter and cause serious defect.
Ants and gall wasps. The black carpenter ant sometimes nests in standing trees, the gouty oak gall wasp can produce twig and limb galls, with heavy infestations reported to kill the entire tree, and the large oak-apple gall wasp may cause galls on leaves or petioles.

The guide on reporting a pest in the United States and the Canada reporting page give the offices that take sightings of regulated pests. Who may apply pesticides is in pesticide licences by country.