Tree · Fagaceae
Northern red oak
Quercus rubra · includes its varieties and subspecies
Northern red oak is recorded as native to 33 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,347 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Northern red oak at a glance
- Native in
- 1,347 counties, across 33 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −35°F
- Mature height
- 81 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −35°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Northern red oak is recorded as native to 33 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,347 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,347 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 47 counties
- Arkansas 60 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 3 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Georgia 23 counties
- Illinois 96 counties
- Indiana 67 counties
- Iowa 18 counties
- Kansas 34 counties
- Kentucky 118 counties
- Louisiana 9 counties
- Maine 16 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 72 counties
- Minnesota 46 counties
- Mississippi 18 counties
- Missouri 111 counties
- Nebraska 11 counties
- New Hampshire 10 counties
- New Jersey 20 counties
- New York 44 counties
- North Carolina 44 counties
- Ohio 83 counties
- Oklahoma 33 counties
- Pennsylvania 66 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 10 counties
- Tennessee 51 counties
- Vermont 10 counties
- Virginia 97 counties
- West Virginia 48 counties
- Wisconsin 64 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 81 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 30 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.3 to 7.3
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- Medium
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 36 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −35°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Mid Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- Yes
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Fagaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- QURU
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Quercus rubra (PLANTS symbol QURU), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources