Page "Quercus rubra" Paragraph 9

* Leaves: Alternate, seven to nine-lobed, oblong-ovate to oblong, five to ten inches long, four to six inches broad ; seven to eleven lobes tapering gradually from broad bases, acute, and usually repandly dentate and terminating with long bristle-pointed teeth ; the second pair of lobes from apex are largest ; midrib and primary veins conspicuous.

Lobes are less deeply cut than most other oaks of the red oak group ( except for black oak which can be similar ).

Leaves emerge from the bud convolute, pink, covered with soft silky down above, coated with thick white tomentum below.

When full grown are dark green and smooth, sometimes shining above, yellow green, smooth or hairy on the axils of the veins below.

In autumn they turn a rich red, sometimes brown.

Often the petiole and midvein are a rich red color in midsummer and early autumn, though this is not true of all red oaks.

The acorns mature in about 18 months after pollination ; solitary or in pairs, sessile or stalked ; nut oblong-ovoid with broad flat base, full, with acute apex, one half to one and one-fourth of an inch long, first green, maturing nut-brown ; cup, saucer-shaped and shallow, 2 cm ( 0. 8 in ) wide, usually covering only the base, sometimes one-fourth of the nut, thick, shallow, reddish brown, somewhat downy within, covered with thin imbricated reddish brown scales.

Kernel white and very bitter.

Despite this bitterness, they are eaten by deer, squirrels and birds.