Tree of the Month: Shumard Red Oak
What to Know About the Shumard Red Oak
The Shumard Red Oak
When selecting a tree for hardiness, size, shade, and ornamental value, the Shumard red oak is a top contender. One of the largest red oaks, this native tree is a great choice for Nashville yards not only for its appealing characteristics, but also for its ability to tolerate the urban area and its variabilities. In this article, we’ll expand on the Shumard oak tree’s most favorable attributes.
What Does a Shumard Red Oak Tree Look Like?
The Shumard red oak (Quercus schumardii), also known as the swamp red oak or spotted oak, can be found across the southern US and throughout most of Tennessee (except in the furthest eastern edge of the state). This big, beautiful tree has an elegant form, possessing a long, straight trunk with firm branches that reach out at an upward angle to form a wide crown.
Shumard red oak trees live up to their name—in the fall, a specimen’s canopy will turn a fiery scarlet to burgundy color, which will fade to a ruddy brown as the leaves dry and drop off, exposing its grand structure for the winter. During the summer, however, a Shumard’s distinctive leaves have a shiny, deep green color.
The leaves of a Shumard oak might be confused with those of the northern red oak tree, both of which have pointed, bristle-tipped lobes, but a close look at the sinuses (the space between the lobes) shows the difference: a Shumard red oak has deeper and wider sinuses and a more triangular shape, with small lower lobes and wide upper lobes that sometimes overlap. The long, pointed lobes of a Shumard’s foliage, usually five to nine of them per leaf, might also be mistaken for a pin oak, but the Shumard’s leaves are generally wider.
Similarly, a Shumard red oak’s bark may be mistaken for a red oak since they both have “ski track” markings (long, light-colored streaks in the upper trunk), but those on a Shumard are less prominent. The Shumard’s bark has narrow, shallow ridges and furrows that tend to grow in a meandering design—not quite straight lines, but not a distinctive diamond pattern either.
Like most oak trees, Shumard oaks have catkins, the long, tail-like clusters of flowers that release pollen into the air to pollinate nearby oaks. The acorns of a Shumard oak tree are medium-sized when compared to other oaks at about an inch in diameter on average.
Growing Conditions for Shumard Oak Trees
One of the reasons the Shumard oak is such a good choice for urban areas is due to its soil preferences. The tree gets one of its other common names, the swamp red oak, from its bottomland habitat, where soil tends to be moist to wet. This gives the Shumard oak a tolerance for compact ground, clay-heavy soil, and occasional flooding, all of which are normal occurrences in the Nashville area.
Despite its preference for lowlands, Shumard oak trees can live in well-draining soil, resulting in some heat and drought tolerance during the hot summertime. They can also be planted in a range of soil types, from slightly acidic to slightly alkaline.
Is a Shumard Red Oak a Fast-Growing Tree?
The Shumard oak grows big and tall, and the tree likes open space to spread its branches in full sun. It’s a relatively fast-growing tree and can put on one to two feet per year as it grows to its mature height of about 80 feet (although some specimens can grow over a hundred feet tall). A well-cared-for Shumard can live for several centuries, providing generations of local residents with a range of ecosystem services, from temperature regulation to soil stabilization.
Shumard Red Oak Pros and Cons
This wonderful tree may have only one drawback, which is its great size. It will need plenty of space to grow big and wide, and therefore, it isn’t suited for compact spaces. Anyone planting a Shumard should also be sure to avoid putting it near ground infrastructure like water pipes, and it shouldn’t be planted near power lines. However, it’s due to this tree’s sizeableness that it is such an excellent shade tree during the spring and summer months.
When it comes to the pros of the Shumard red oak, the beauty, shade, and longevity of this species make it an excellent choice to add to a big yard. Significantly, all of this native tree’s characteristics also make it an important tree species for wildlife. Its dense foliage and large size offer shelter to all sorts of animals, while acorns provide a source of food for deer, squirrels, and other mammals, as well as turkeys and waterfowl like ducks and geese. Shumard oaks are host to a wide variety of caterpillars, which mature into many types of moths and butterflies, while some of those caterpillars become food for birds of all kinds. Like its oaken relations, the Shumard is a powerhouse of ecosystem services where it grows!
Browse the Nashville Tree Conservation Corps’ tree sale to pick up a Shumard oak tree of your own, or volunteer with us to help plant this and other types of trees across the city. If you haven’t already, subscribe to our email newsletter to receive regular tips and information about our city’s canopy system.