Oak trees are a group of deciduous or evergreen trees that are found in various parts of the world. They are known for their strength, durability, and beauty, and have been used for centuries in construction, furniture making, and more. There are over 600 species of oak trees, and they can be found in many regions, including North America, Europe, and Asia.
Each species of the oak tree has its own unique characteristics, including differences in size, shape, leaf color and shape, and acorn size and shape. Some of the most commonly known oak tree species include white oak, red oak, black oak, bur oak, live oak, etc.
Here I’ve listed 42 common oak species and where they are found.
White oak
Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the superior hardwoods of eastern and central North America. It is a long-lived oak, native to eastern and central North America and found in Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec, and southern Maine south as far as northern Florida and eastern Texas.
Northern Red Oak
Quercus rubra, the northern red oak, is an oak tree in the red oak group. It is a native of North America, in the eastern and central United States and southeast and south-central Canada. It has been introduced to small areas in Western Europe, where it can frequently be seen cultivated in gardens and parks.
English oak
Quercus robur, the pedunculate oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions
Southern live oak
Quercus virginiana, also known as the southern live oak, is an evergreen oak tree endemic to the Southeastern United States. Though many other species are loosely called live oak, the southern live oak is particularly iconic of the Old South.
Quercus ilex
Quercus ilex, the evergreen oak, holly oak or holm oak is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the Ilex section of the genus, with acorns that mature in a single summer.
Swamp Spanish oak
Quercus palustris, the pin oak or swamp Spanish oak, is a tree in the red oak section of the genus Quercus. Pin oak is one of the most commonly used landscaping oaks in its native range due to its ease of transplant, relatively fast growth, and pollution tolerance.
Bur oak
Quercus macrocarpa, the bur oak or burr oak, is a species of oak tree native to eastern North America. It is in the white oak section, Quercus sect. Quercus, and is also called mossycup oak, mossycup white oak, blue oak, or scrub oak.
Sessile Oak
Quercus petraea, commonly known as the sessile oak, Cornish oak, Irish Oak, or durmast oak, is a species of oak tree native to most of Europe and into Anatolia and Iran. The sessile oak is the national tree of Ireland and an unofficial emblem in Wales and Cornwall.
Black Oak
Quercus velutina, the black oak, is a species of oak in the red oak group, native and widespread in eastern and central North America. It is sometimes called the eastern black oak. Quercus velutina was previously known as yellow oak due to the yellow pigment in its inner bark.
Quercus suber
Quercus suber, commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring and as the cores of cricket balls. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa.
Water oak
Quercus nigra, the water oak, is an oak in the red oak group, native to the eastern and south-central United States, found in all the coastal states from New Jersey to Texas, and inland as far as Oklahoma, Kentucky, and southern Missouri. It occurs in lowlands and up to 450 meters in elevation.
Willow oak
Quercus phellos, the willow oak, is a North American species of deciduous tree in the red oak group of oaks. It is native to the south-central and eastern United States.
Swamp white oak
Quercus bicolor, the swamp white oak, is a North American species of medium-sized tree in the beech family. It is a common element of America’s north-central and northeastern mixed forests. It can survive in a variety of habitats. It forms hybrids with bur oak where they occur together in the wild.
Chinkapin oak
Quercus muehlenbergii, the chinquapin oak, is a deciduous species of tree in the white oak group. The species was often called Quercus acuminata in older literature. Quercus muehlenbergii is native to eastern and central North America.
Post oak
Quercus stellata, the post oak or iron oak, is a North American species of oak in the white oak section. It is a slow-growing oak that lives in dry areas on the edges of fields, on tops of ridges also grow in poor soils, and is resistant to rot, fire, and drought.
Texas live oak
Quercus fusiformis, commonly known as escarpment live oak, plateau live oak, plateau oak, or Texas live oak, is an evergreen or nearly evergreen tree.
Chestnut oak
Quercus montana, the chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak group, Quercus sect. Quercus. It is native to the eastern United States, where it is one of the most important ridgetop trees from southern Maine southwest to central Mississippi, with an outlying northwestern population in southern Michigan.
Quercus cerris
Quercus cerris, the Turkey oak or Austrian oak, is an oak native to south-eastern Europe and Asia Minor. It is the type of species of the Quercus sect. Cerris is a section of the genus characterized by shoot buds surrounded by soft bristles, bristle-tipped leaf lobes, and acorns that usually mature in 18 months.
Quercus shumardii
Quercus shumardii, the Shumard oak, spotted oak, Schneck oak, Shumard red oak, or swamp red oak, is one of the largest of the oak species in the red oak group. It is closely related to Quercus buckleyi, Quercus texana, and Quercus gravesii.
Quercus acutissima
Quercus acutissima, the sawtooth oak, is an Asian species of oak native to China, Tibet, Korea, Japan, Indochina, and the Himalayas. It is widely planted in many lands and has become naturalized in parts of North America. Quercus acutissima is closely related to the Turkey oak, classified with it in the Quercus sect.
Scarlet oak
Quercus coccinea, the scarlet oak, is a deciduous tree in the red oak section Lobatae of the genus Quercus, in the family Fagaceae. It is primarily distributed in the central and eastern United States. It occurs on dry, sandy, usually acidic soil. It is often an important canopy species in oak–heath forests.
Quercus pubescens
Quercus pubescens, the downy oak or pubescent oak, is a species of white oak native to southern Europe and southwest Asia, from northern Spain east to the Crimea and the Caucasus. It is also found in France and parts of central Europe.
Quercus laurifolia
Quercus laurifolia is a medium-sized semi-evergreen oak in the red oak section Quercus sect. Lobatae. It is native to the southeastern and south-central United States.
Quercus dentata
Quercus dentata, also called Japanese emperor oak or daimyo oak is a species of oak native to East Asia. The name of the tree is often translated as “sweet oak” in English to distinguish it from Western varieties.
Oregon white oak
Quercus garryana is an oak tree species of the Pacific Northwest, with a range stretching from southern California to southwestern British Columbia. It is commonly known as the Oregon white oak or Oregon oak or, in Canada, the Garry oak.
Quercus texana
Quercus texana, commonly known as Nuttall’s oak, is a fast-growing, large deciduous oak tree. It is a tree growing up to 25 meters tall, with dark brown bark. It has leaves with sharp pointed lobes somewhat similar to those of the Georgia oak and pin oak.
Overcup oak
Quercus lyrata, the overcup oak, is an oak in the white oak group. The common name, overcup oak, refers to its acorns that are mostly enclosed within the acorn cup.
Cyclobalanopsis
Cyclobalanopsis glauca), commonly called ring-cupped oak or Japanese blue oak, is a tree in the beech family (Fagaceae). It is native to eastern and southern Asia, where it is found in Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, northern and eastern India, southern Japan, Kashmir, Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, and Vietnam.
Coast live oak
Quercus agrifolia, the California live oak, or coast live oak, is a highly variable, often evergreen oak tree, a type of live oak, native to the California Floristic Province. It may be shrubby, depending on age and growing location, but is generally a medium-sized tree.
Blue oak
Quercus douglasii, known as blue oak, is a species of oak endemic to California, common in the Coast Ranges and the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is California’s most drought-tolerant deciduous oak, and is a dominant species in the blue oak woodland ecosystem.
Bear oak
Quercus ilicifolia, commonly known as bear oak or scrub oak, is a small shrubby oak native to the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. Its range extends in the United States from Maine to North Carolina, with reports of a few populations north of the international frontier in Ontario
Valley oak
Quercus lobata, commonly called the valley oak or roble, grows into the largest of California oaks. It is endemic to California, growing in interior valleys and foothills from Siskiyou County to San Diego County. Mature specimens may attain an age of up to 600 years.
Quercus faginea
Quercus faginea, the Portuguese oak, is a species of oak native to the western Mediterranean region in the Iberian Peninsula. Similar trees in the Atlas Mountains of northwest Africa are usually included in this species or sometimes treated as a distinct species, Quercus tlemcenensis.
Quercus imbricaria
Quercus imbricaria, the shingle oak, is a deciduous tree in the red oak group of oaks. It is native primarily to the Midwestern and Upper South regions of North America.
Quercus polymorpha
Quercus polymorpha, the Mexican white oak, Monterrey oak, or net leaf white oak, is a North American species of oak. It is widespread in Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras, and known from a single population in the United States but widely planted as an ornamental.
Quercus glauca
Quercus glauca, commonly called ring-cupped oak or Japanese blue oak, is a tree in the beech family. It is native to eastern and southern Asia, where it is found in Afghanistan, Bhutan, China, northern and eastern India, southern Japan, Kashmir, Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, and Vietnam.
Quercus coccifera
Quercus coccifera, the kermes oak, is an oak bush in the Ilex section of the genus. It is native to the Mediterranean region and Northern African Maghreb, south to north from Morocco to France and west to east from Portugal to Cyprus and Turkey, crossing Spain, Italy, Libya, Balkans, and Greece, including Crete
Quercus laevis
Quercus laevis, the turkey oak, is a member of the red oak group of oaks. It is native to the southeastern United States. The name turkey oak derives from the resemblance of the leaves to a turkey’s foot.
Quercus crispula
Quercus crispula, commonly known as mizunara from the Japanese, is a deciduous broad-leaved tree of the genus Quercus. As Quercus mongolica var. crispula, it is considered a variety of Mongolian oak by some authorities, and is widely distributed in Northeast Asia.
Quercus serrata
Quercus serrata, the jolcham oak, is an East Asian species of tree in the beech family. It is native to China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.
Quercus myrsinifolia
Quercus myrsinifolia is an Asian tree species in the ring-cupped oaks subgenus of the family Fagaceae. It has several common names, including bamboo-leaf oak, Chinese evergreen oak, and Chinese ring-cupped oak.
Quercus infectoria
Quercus infectoria or the Aleppo oak is a species of oak well known for producing galls that have been traditionally used for centuries in Asia medicinally while also used in softening leather and in making black dye and ink
Quercus phillyreoides
Quercus phillyreoides is a species of flowering plant in the genus Quercus, placed in subgenus Cerris and section Ilex. It is evergreen, withstands frost, and can be grown in hardiness zone 7. It is native to southern China, the Ryukyu Islands, and Japan, and has been introduced to Korea.
Southern red oak
Quercus falcata, also called southern red oak, spanish oak, bottomland red oak or three-lobed red oak is an oak.
Blackjack oak
Quercus marilandica, the blackjack oak, is a small oak, one of the red oak group Quercus sect. Lobatae. It is native to the eastern and central United States.
Quercus mongolica
Quercus mongolica, commonly known as Mongolian oak, is a species of oak native to Japan, China, Korea, Mongolia, and Siberia. The species can grow to be 30 metres tall. The flavono-ellagitannins mongolicin A and B can be found in Quercus mongolica var. Grosseserrata
Swamp chestnut oak
Quercus michauxii, the swamp chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak section Quercus section Quercus in the beech family.
Quercus frainetto
Quercus frainetto, commonly known as the Hungarian oak or Italian oak, is a species of oak, native to southeastern Europe and Turkey; it is classified in Quercus sect. Mesobalanus.
Quercus variabilis
Quercus variabilis, the Chinese cork oak, is a species of oak in the section Quercus sect. Cerris, native to a wide area of eastern Asia in southern, central, and eastern China, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.
Quercus salicina
Quercus salicina is an oak species found in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. The larvae of the Japanese oakblue, of Acrocercops vallata and Marumba sperchius feed on Q. salicina. Stenophyllanin A, a tannin, and other quinic acid gallates can be found in Q. salicina.
Gambel oak
Quercus gambelii, with the common name Gambel oak, is a deciduous small tree or large shrub that is widespread in the foothills and lower mountains of western North America. It is also regionally called scrub oak, oak brush, and white oak.
