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| ## shumard's oak {#shumards-oak .Title-Header}                        |
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| *Quercus shumardii* Buckl.                                            |
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| Plant Symbol = QUSH                                                   |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & the Biota of
North America Program

### 

## Alternate Names

Shumard red oak, southern red oak, swamp red oak, spotted oak, Schneck
oak

## Uses

*Conservation*: High survival rates and steady growth make Shumard oak a
valuable contributor to rehabilitation and reforestation of bottomlands
and upland sites, including minespoils. Shumard oak also provides an
excellent shade or specimen tree -- to be used in lawns, parks, along
streets, and in buffer strips and median plantings. The leaves remain
green long into the fall and then turn a deep orange-red. The trees are
strong, long-lived, and grow relatively quickly. They potentially grow
to a large size and should be planted with this in mind. The species has
been successfully grown in urban areas where air pollution, poor
drainage, compacted soil, and/or drought are common. Compared to the
similar northern red oak (*Q. rubra*), Shumard oak tolerates a broader
range of soil moisture, and its more southern distribution provides
stock better suited for that area. Shumard also apparently is little
affected by chlorosis, which often is a problem for other oaks in high
pH soils. ![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.6979166666666665in"
height="4.086111111111111in"}

*Industry*: The wood of Shumard oak is close-grained, hard, strong, and
heavy. It is generally marketed with other red oak lumber for flooring,
furniture, interior trim and veneer, cabinetry, and lumber. Numerous
species of songbirds, wild turkeys, waterfowl, white-tailed deer,
squirrels, and other mammals eat the acorns, which are produced in
abundance.

*Ethnobotanic*: The acorns are bitter, but edible, if the tannins are
leached out. They have been ground and used as flour, roasted and ground
to make coffee, and eaten whole.

## Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as state noxious status
and wetland indicator values.

## Description 

*General*: Beech Family (Fagaceae). Native tree growing to 25 m tall,
with an open, rounded-spreading crown. Bark dark gray, smoothish,
furrowed into ridges on lower trunk and older branches, the trunk
sometimes buttressed on older trees. Leaves are alternate, elliptic,
8--18 cm long, to 12 cm wide, deeply divided into 5--9 bristle-tipped
lobes broadest toward the tip, the sinuses thumb-shaped, dark green
above, with tufts of hairs in vein axils below, commonly turning red in
fall. Male and female flowers are borne in separate catkins on the same
tree (the species monoecious) on the current year\'s branchlets. Acorns
maturing in the second year, egg-shaped, 1.5--3 cm long, with a
flattened, more or less shallow cup. This species is named for Benjamin
Franklin Shumard (1820-1869), state geologist of Texas.

Shumard oak belongs to the red oak group (subgenus *Erythrobalanus*) and
hybridizes with species of that group:

*Q. hypoleucoides*, *Q. imbricaria*, *Q. marilandica*, *Q. nigra*, *Q.
nuttallii*, *Q. palustris*, *Q. phellos*, *Q. rubra*, and *Q. velutina*.

*Variation within the species:*

Trees known as *Q. shumardii* var. *texana* (*Q. texana, Q. rubra* var.
*texana*, *Q. nuttallii*; Texas red oak, Nuttall\'s oak) are now
recognized as *Q. buckleyi* Dorr & Nixon (Dorr & Nixon 1985). *Quercus
shumardii* var. *schneckii* (Britt.) Sarg. is now generally regarded as
within limits of typical variation for the species. *Quercus shumardii*
var. *stenocarpa* Laughlin (Laughlin 1969), with very narrow acorns and
shallow acorn cups, has been described from Missouri and Illinois.

## Distribution

Shumard oak occurs on the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains from North
Carolina to northern Florida and west to central Texas. Northward, it is
common in Missouri, western Tennessee and Kentucky, southern Illinois,
Indiana, and western Ohio. Occurrences further north are more local and
sporadic. For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile
page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

## Adaptation 

Shumard oak occurs on moist, well-drained loamy soils of stream and
river terraces and adjacent ridges and bluffs as well as mesic slopes
and poorly drained upland sites, at elevations of 0--500 meters. It is
intolerant or only weakly tolerant of flooding and does not usually
occur on the lowest river bottoms. Shumard oak is intolerant of shade
but rare in early successional stands, probably colonizing gaps in
mature forests. It usually occurs as scattered trees with more prominent
southern oak species of the oak-hickory forest region.

Flowering occurs from March-April (June) and fruiting from
September-October.

## Establishment

Shumard oak begins to produce fruit at about 25 years, with optimum
production at about 50 years and good crops every 2--3 years.
Germination occurs at high frequencies; full light is required for good
seedling establishment and growth. Shumard oaks are known to have
reached at least 480 years of age.

## Management

Shumard oak can be successfully direct seeded or planted as seedlings,
but it is difficult to propagate by cuttings. Seed dormancy is broken by
stratification for 60-90 days at 1-5° C. Seed can be stored moist and
cool overwinter but is best sown outdoors as soon as ripe. Best growth
is from seed sown in situ. Young trees from deep pots are relatively
easily transplanted, but those left in a nursery bed for more than two
growing seasons without being moved will have problems because of the
deep taproot.

Reforestation of agricultural lands to bottomland hardwoods has been
successful with Shumard oak direct-seeded to otherwise unprepared sites.
Soil fertilization does not improve success in early establishment.

Shumard oak is probably moderately resistant to immediate fire damage,
because it persists in some communities that are maintained by periodic
fire. Young trees, however, are relatively thin-barked and basal
wounding by fire usually results in at least top-kill of such trees,
either by girdling the tree or by creating avenues for infection by
wood-rotting fungi. Top-killed Shumard oak produces root sprouts.

Initial pruning to develop a central leader will provide better shaped
street trees. Pruning in the dormant season or in summer is best, but
pruning should be avoided in late spring and early summer in areas where
oak wilt is present.

*Oak wilt*

Shumard oak is highly susceptible to oak wilt infection, a fungal
disease that invades the water-conducting vessels and plugs them. As
water movement is slowed, the leaves wilt and rapidly drop off the tree.
The disease begins with a crinkling and paling of the leaves, followed
by wilting and browning from the margins inward. Necrosis may be
strongest along the veins or between them. The symptoms move down
branches toward the center of the tree and the tree may die within 1--3
months, although some diseased trees may survive up to a year. The
disease may be spread by insects (primarily beetles) or pruning tools,
but most of the tree loss in oak wilt centers results from transmission
through root spread between adjoining trees. A trench (dug and then
immediately filled) between neighboring trees severs the roots and
prevents fungus spread. Dead and infected trees must be destroyed --
once a tree has become infected, there is little chance to save it. The
wood may be used for firewood provided it is debarked or covered and
sealed during the spring and summer (Johnson and Appel 2000; Roberts
2000; Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources 2000; City of Austin 2000).

Oak wilt most seriously infects species of the red oak group (including
black and live oaks). Overcup oak, bur oak, white oak, and other members
of the white oak group are not as susceptible and can be planted in oak
wilt centers. This disease has reached epidemic proportions in Texas and
in the mid-West from Iowa and Minnesota through Michigan and Wisconsin
into Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

## Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone
book under "United States Government." The Natural Resources
Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading "Department of
Agriculture."

## References

City of Austin 2000. *The oak wilt suppression program*. Austin Parks
and Recreation, Austin, Texas. SEP00.
\<http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/oakwilt/\>

Dorr L.J. & K.C. Nixon 1985. *Typification of the oak (Quercus) taxa
described by S.B. Buckely (1809-1884)*. Taxon 34:211-228.

Edwards, M.B. 1990. *Quercus shumardii Buckl. Shumard Oak*. Pp. 734-737,
IN: R.M. Burns and B.H. Honkala. *Silvics of North America. Volume 2.
Hardwoods*. USDA Forest Service Agric. Handbook 654, Washington, D.C.
SEP00.
\<http://willow.ncfes.umn.edu/silvics_manual/Volume_2/quercus/shumardii.htm\>

Johnson, J. & D. Appel 2000. *Eight step program to oak wilt
management*. Department of Plant Pathology & Microbiology, Texas A&M
University, College Station, Texas. SEP00.
\<http://cygnus.tamu.edu/Texlab/oakwilt.html\>

Laughlin, K. 1969. *Quercus shumardii var. stenocarpa Laughlin:
Stenocarp Shumard oak*. Phytologia. 19:57--64.

Nixon, K.C. et al. 1993. *Quercus*. Pp. 445-506, IN: *Flora of North
America, North of Mexico. Vol. 3*. Oxford Univ. Press, New York, New
York.
\<http://hua.huh.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/Flora/flora.pl?FLORA_ID=12395\>

Roberts, D.L. 2000. *Oak wilt: A threat to red oaks*. Michigan State
University Extension Website. SEP00.
\<http://www.msue.msu.edu/reg_se/oakwilt/\>

Samuel Roberts Nobel Foundation 1999. *Noble foundation plant image
gallery*. Ardmore, Oklahoma. 29nov2000.
\<http://www.noble.org/imagegallery/index.html\>

Sullivan, J. 1993. *Quercus shumardii*. IN: W.C. Fischer (compiler).
*The fire effects information system* \[Database\]. USDA, Forest
Service, Intermountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire Sciences
Laboratory. Missoula, Montana. SEP00.
\<http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/queshu/\>

Waldron, G.E., S.W. Aboud, J.D. Ambrose, & G.A. Meyers 1987*. Shumard
oak, Quercus shumardii, in Canada*. Canad. Field-Nat. 101:532-538.

Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources 2000. *Oak wilt in Wisconsin:
Biology and management*. Wisconsin DNR Website. SEP00.
\<http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/forestry/fh/diseases/oakwilt.htm\>

## Prepared By

*Guy Nesom*

Formerly BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

## Species Coordinator

### *M. Kat Anderson*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, c/o Plant Sciences Dept., Davis,
California

Edited: 19jun02 jsp; 29may03 ahv; 060809 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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*To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of
Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence
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