Identifying Characteristics
| Size/Form: | Water oak is a tall, slender tree that reaches 50 to 80 feet in height, 2 to 3 ½ feet in diameter. It has ascending branches that form a round-topped, symmetrical crown. |
| Leaves: | Leaves are simple, alternate, and deciduous, sometimes not falling until late winter. Leaves are 2 to 8 inches long, 3 to 4 inches wide, variable in shape but mostly spatulate: broad and rounded at the top and narrow and wedged at the base. Leaf margins are variable. They can either be entire, 3-lobed at the apex, or variously lobed, as is usually the case with vigorous sprouts and juvenile plants. The top of each leaf is a dull green to bluish green and the bottom is a paler bluish-green. On the bottom portion of the leaves, rusty colored hairs run along the veins. Leaf petioles are short, stout, and flattened. |
| Twigs: | The twigs are slender, glabrous, and dull red at first, becoming brown with age. The pith is star-shaped and homogeneous. |
| Bark: | The younger trees possess a smooth, brown bark that becomes gray-black with rough scaly ridges as the tree matures. |
| Flowers: | The flowers are unisexual and monoecious. |
| Fruit: | Fruit is an acorn, grown solitary or occasionally in pairs, that matures in the second year. It is ovoid-shaped, light brown to nearly black, with a pubescent tip, and about ½ inch long. |
| Similar Trees on the Florida 4-H Forest Ecology Contest List: There are two other oaks on our list that have unlobed leaves. |
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