Tree · Fagaceae
Post oak
Quercus stellata
Post oak is recorded as native to 26 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,064 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Post oak at a glance
- Native in
- 1,064 counties, across 26 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a PLANTS minimum temperature −33°F
- Mature height
- 60 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 4a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −33°F; zone 4a winters bottom out at −30°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Post oak is recorded as native to 26 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,064 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,064 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 65 counties
- Arkansas 74 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- Florida 12 counties
- Georgia 39 counties
- Illinois 56 counties
- Indiana 16 counties
- Kansas 24 counties
- Kentucky 110 counties
- Louisiana 44 counties
- Massachusetts 4 counties
- Mississippi 49 counties
- Missouri 110 counties
- New Jersey 16 counties
- New York 8 counties
- North Carolina 68 counties
- Ohio 25 counties
- Oklahoma 64 counties
- Pennsylvania 17 counties
- Rhode Island 1 county
- South Carolina 36 counties
- Tennessee 49 counties
- Texas 56 counties
- Virginia 95 counties
- West Virginia 25 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
- 60 ft
- Growth rate
- Slow
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Low
- Precipitation range
- 22 to 80 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 4.8 to 6.5
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Medium
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Medium
- Minimum root depth
- 36 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −33°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 4a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 165
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Early Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- Yes
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- Moderate
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Fagaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- QUST
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 stellata (PLANTS symbol QUST).
- 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