Red oak

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Red oak
Quercus rubra 1.jpg

Red oak ( Quercus rubra )

Systematics
Rosids
Eurosiden I
Order : Beech-like (Fagales)
Family : Beech family (Fagaceae)
Genre : Oak trees ( Quercus )
Type : Red oak
Scientific name
Quercus rubra
L.

The red oak ( Quercus rubra ), in technical language spelling red oak written, even American Spiked Oak called, is a species of the genus of oak ( Quercus ) within the family of the Fagaceae (Fagaceae). It is common in North America . It is the official state tree of the US state New Jersey .

description

Treetop with young leaves

Vegetative characteristics

The red oak grows as a deciduous tree and usually reaches heights of 20 to 25 meters, sometimes up to 35 meters. It can live up to 400 years and reach a trunk diameter of up to 2 meters. In youth red oak has a taproot , later - heart root system . It is extremely fast growing. In young trees, annual shoots of 2.5 meters in length are sometimes observed. The shoots grow in two periods from mid-May to early June and from late July to early August. In the wild, the red oak blooms at a relatively young age of 25 to 30 years. It forms a round tree crown .

Trunk and bark
Branch with male inflorescences

The bark of young red oaks is gray and smooth; later a thin, scaly bark is formed. The alternate and spirally arranged leaves on the branches are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The yellowish petiole is about 2 centimeters, sometimes up to 5 centimeters long. The leaf blade is up to 23 centimeters long and has four to five leaf lobes on each leaf half, which are divided by bays up to 5 centimeters deep. The ends of the leaf lobes are pointed. The fresh leaf shoots are yellow in the first three weeks; then the leaves are green. They become bright red to orange in autumn, sometimes yellow to brown on older specimens.

Generative characteristics

Fruit and cupula

The flowering time is in Central Europe in May. The male inflorescences hang loosely and are yellowish green. The female flowers sit individually or in pairs.

The acorns do not ripen until the second year. The fruit cup is on a thick, about 1 centimeter long stem. Each nut fruit is surrounded by a flat fruit cup (cupula). The acorns are about 2 centimeters long and about 2 centimeters wide and ovoid in diameter.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.

Occurrence

Red oak in autumn colors

distribution

Original distribution of Quercus rubra

The original range of Quercus rubra is in eastern North America and extends there from Canada (southern Ontario ) south in the USA to Texas , Georgia , Missouri , Arkansas and Oklahoma . In the Appalachian Mountains , it occurs at altitudes of over 1,600 meters.

In Central Europe , the red oak has been planted as a park and avenue tree since the beginning of the 18th century - due to its attractive leaf shape and beautiful autumn color . The date of first introduction is given as 1691 or 1724. It is just as successful in urban environments as the English oak . However, it is not suitable as a street or square tree, as its roots lift up asphalt and paving stones in compacted soils .

In large parts of Europe it is also used for forestry . At the beginning of the 20th century , the red oak was planted as a replacement for the native oak species, which were very decimated by damage caused by feeding. This created partially self-reproducing red oak populations , and the red oak can colonize other areas through the spreading by jays .

In the German forests , according to the results of the Third National Forest Inventory (2012), with 55,000 hectares in the main stocking , the red oak takes up an area of ​​0.5 percent. In the young stock it occurs with a total area of ​​11,000 hectares.

Location

Compared to the oak species native to Central Europe, the red oak is more resistant to pests , more shade-tolerant and stronger. It is planted as a pure stand or mixed with beech . The red oak produces its best growth performance in warm locations without late frosts on well- alkaline-supplied , deep soils , but can also grow on very nutrient- poor sandy soils . It avoids cool, damp, waterlogged, flooded or extremely shallow locations and high altitudes. In very calcareous and alternately dry locations, the red oak is preferably attacked by root rot, which can lead to loss of growth, crown defoliation and broken roots. Developmental disorders occur with carbonate topsoils.

Feral stocks of the red oak in Central Europe, which show a tendency towards naturalization, exist on acidic, shallow soils, especially rocky locations. Here it competes with the native sessile oak ( Quercus petraea ), while it cannot survive on better soils than the common beech ( Fagus sylvatica ). Feral red oaks are striking, for example in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, where the red oak grows on rocks far away from forest cultivation and is safely naturalized.

Illustration from Histoire des arbres forestiers de l'Amérique septentrionale , 1812, plate 26

Systematics

The first publication of Quercus rubra was made in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum , 2, page 996. synonyms for Quercus rubra L. are: Quercus acerifolia G.Kirchn. , Quercus ambigua F. Michx. nom. illeg., Quercus angulizana Raf. , Quercus borealis F. Michx. , Quercus cuneata Dippel nom. illeg., Quercus maxima (Marshall) Ashe , Quercus sada Mast. , Quercus coccinea var. Ambigua (F. Michx.) A. Gray , Quercus rubra var. Ambigua (F. Michx.) Fernald , Quercus rubra var. Borealis (F. Michx.) Farw. Hispanica Castigl , Quercus rubra var . , Quercus rubra var. Latepinnatifida Kuntze , Quercus rubra var. Latifolia Aiton , Quercus rubra var. Pendula de Vos , Quercus rubra var. Maxima Marshall , Quercus rubra var. Ramosissima Marshall , Quercus rubra var. Subserrata Lam. Of Quercus rubra described relatively large number of varieties, they are often regarded as synonyms of Quercus rubra .

Use and forestry

Ornamental plant

The red oak is used as an ornamental plant in parks.

Cultivated forms:

  • 'Aurea': This form has intense golden yellow leaves, which, however, turn green a little over the course of summer.
Trunk cross-section

Wood

The red oak is a heartwood tree with a thin, light-colored sapwood and a red-brown core. Your wood has an average density of 0.65 g / cm³. The wood of the red oak can be used in a similar way to the wood of the common oak and sessile oak native to Central Europe , but is less valuable overall. The veneers of the red oak are structured more irregularly. The coarse-pored wood has very spacious vessels. These remain untouched even after the coring , so that red oak is not suitable for barrel production , because liquids and gases can be transported through the wood in the direction of the grain.

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

The wood of the red oak has only a low natural durability against fungal wood pests , which is a disadvantage compared to the wood of English or sessile oak, for example with regard to its use as construction wood. In contrast to the white oak , the common oak and the sessile oak, it is also not suitable for shipbuilding.

The American red oak is planted as a fire protection bar in many coniferous forests, since its acidic and poorly decomposable leaves impede further vegetation and thus a possible fire can be slowed down.

The red oak is a relatively powerful alien plant species ( neophytes ) in the temperate areas , although it is not classified as invasive in all Central European countries; however, the release should not be carried out without hesitation and over a large area.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quercus rubra L., red oak. In: FloraWeb.de.
  2. ↑ Quercus rubra at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  3. ↑ Mirko Liesebach, Volker Schneck: Development of American and European origins of the red oak in Germany. forest archive 82, 125-133 (2011). PDF (0.7 MB) . doi : 10.4432 / 0300-4112-82-125
  4. ↑ F. Kroiher, A. Bolte: Nature conservation and biodiversity in the mirror of the BWI 2012. In: AFZ-Der Wald. 21/2015.
  5. ↑ www.waldwissen.net : Infestation conditions for root rot in red oak.
  6. ^ Information from science / from LWF-aktuell , No. 20 of the Bavarian State Institute for Forest and Forest Science, 1999, p. 21. PDF.
  7. ^ R. Dressel, EJ Jäger: Contributions to the biology of the vascular plants of the Hercynian area. 5. Quercus rubra L. (Red Oak): Life history and agriophytic spread in the Saxon Switzerland National Park. In: Hercynia NF Volume 35, 2002, pp. 37-64.
  8. ↑ Quercus rubra at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  9. ^ A b R. Govaerts, DG Frodin, 1998: World Checklist and Bibliography of Fagales: 1-408. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. In: Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Quercus rubra. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  10. ↑ a b c data sheet Quercus rubra at Plants of the World at Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, London, GB. (English), last accessed on August 2, 2019.
  11. ↑ a b Quercus rubra in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  12. ^ Gerhard Stinglwagner , Ilse Haseder , Reinhold Erlbeck: Das Kosmos Wald- und Forstlexikon . 6th edition. Kosmos, 2016, ISBN 978-3-440-15219-5 , pp.  216–217 ( Quercus rubra on pp. 216-217 in the Google book search).
  13. ↑ Katharina Burkardt: Short portrait of the red oak (Quercus rubra L.) , In: waldwissen.net , February 12, 2018 , accessed on August 2, 2019.

Web links

Commons : Red Oak ( Quercus rubra )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files