Broadly conical deciduous tree with single main trunk high into canopy. Branches mostly horizontal, the lowermost ones often arching downwards. Leaves oblong in outline and deeply cut, mostly 9-14 cm long with 5-7 pointed lobes, bright green; colouring reddish brown in autumn and persisting on the tree for a while in winter when dry and dead. Leaf stalk 2-5 cm long. Acorns stalkless or shortly stalked, more or less hemispherical to flattened, about one third enclosed in a flattened saucer-like cup.
E North America
Widely grown as an avenue tree but also in large parks and gardens. Particularly popular in the 1930s. Grows naturally in clay floodplain soils and will tolerate flooding and a wide range of environmental conditions.
Leaves 5-7 lobed, with the unusual character of the dead leaves persisting on young trees through winter; tufts of hair where veins join midrib on lower surface cf. Q. coccinea.
ACT: Braddon (Torres St). NSW: Concord ('Yaralla', Eadith Walker Hospital); Bowral (Corbett Gardens); Bathurst (Machattie Park; sportsground); Mt Wilson ('Windy Ridge'); Orange (Robertson Park). VIC: Balnarring ('Coolart'); Bright (avenue trees); Canterbury (Canterbury Gardens); Emerald (Emerald Lake Park); Mt Macedon ('Forest Glades', about 25 m tall in 1984); Springvale (Springvale Botanical Cemetery).
Similar species rare in cultivation include Q. kelloggii Newb. which has hairy leaves, at least when young; and Q. shumardii Buckley which has 7-9(11) lobes and leaf stalks 5-6.5 cm long, base truncate, not tapering, acorns much larger, about 1.5-3.5 cm long.
Source: (1997). Fagaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
Branching dense and with the branches arching down strongly.