Cherrybark Oak (Quercus pagoda). One of the Finest Red Oaks.

[WDH]

Ranging north almost to the Great Lakes and Northeast almost to New York, Cherrybark Oak  (Quercus falcata var. pagodafolia, or in some texts, Quercus pagoda) is one of the finest quality red oaks.  The tree is very shade intolerant, so it self-prunes at a very early age.  Therefore, this red oak produces good quantities of clear lumber.  The tree gets its name form its scaly dark bark, resembling that of black cherry.

Key Characteristics:

The bark is very dark gray to black and has the appearance of being scaly.  It bears a close resemblance to the bark of our beloved black cherry.

The bark is usually of a dark uniform color without silver streaks, but it does frequently exhibit horizontal bands or patches of light gray, almost white color.

The leaves are very distinctive.  They are two-tone, just like southern red oak.  In fact, many dendrologists classify cherrybark as a variety of southern red oak.  The upper leaf surface will be dark shiny green while the underside will be a tawny, fuzzy, tan. 

The lobes of the leaves are swept back in the falcate shape of a falcon's wing, just like southern red oak.  The lobes are almost perpendicular to the midrib.

While very similar in leaf characteristics to southern red oak with the distinct two-toned color and the falcate shape of the leaf lobes, there is one very distinct difference:  Cherrybark does not exhibit the "bell and clapper" leaf shape seen in southern red oak.  Instead of an obvious bell shaped base, the base of the cherrybark oak leaf is more v-shaped called cuneate.

Cherrybark is one of the largest oaks.  It is a bottomland species, and grows to large diameter.

The Bark:

 
 

The Leaves:

Typical sun leaves.  Notice the distinct color difference in the upper and lower surfaces.  For the extensively lobed red oak leaves like black oak, scarlet oak, northern red oak, shumard oak, pin oak, nuttall oak, turkey oak, etc. cherrybark oak and southern red oak are the only two with this distinct two-toned color.
 

The shade leaves, like in many red oaks, can be much larger.  In this pic, contrast the two shade leaves on the left to the two sun leaves on the right.
 

Here is a pic of the "bell and clapper" leaf of southern red oak with the distinct bell-shaped base.  Following that is a pic of cherrybark leaves with the v-shaped leaf base.
 
 

While the two-toned color is the same, the shape of the leaf base is what distinguishes the two leaves apart.

[thurlow]

Friend of mine had a small bottom logged 3 or 4 years ago;  a cousin of his did the logging and they had some kind of complicated share arrangement on the logs.  One cherry bark oak in the bunch;  he 'said'  that the tree was veneer grade and the 1st logs ( 2 or 3, I've forgotten) brought $1000 at the local sawmill.

[WDH]

The bark pictures that I posted are weak.  I need to add some more.  I have seen cherrybark oak with 4 clear faces and 30"+ in diameter for the first two logs.  Sounds like those were some fine logs, Thurlow.

[Dodgy Loner]

I know of a spot in the Oconee National Forest (Green Co., GA) with 2 cherrybarks greater than 5' in diameter and 140+ feet tall (measured both with a tape and clinometer, I'm not guessing about these measurements!).  There are also at least 5 more within a mile that are more than 4' in diameter and 120+ feet tall.  Purty impressive trees.

[Texas Ranger]

Just read your acronym and figured it out, I must be slowing down.

[Dodgy Loner]

That's awright.  I think you have to have selective dyslexia to figure that one out right off the bat    

[WDH]

I have seen some of those big cherrybark on the Oconee in Greene County, GA.  However, it was quite a few years before you saw them ( I am old as oak bark)

[Dodgy Loner]

Did you have a dendrology lab out there too?  Or were you out that way for some other reason?

[WDH]

First exposure was dendrology lab in 1975 (1975???  That was 32 years ago ).  Afterward, I kept going back on my own because it was such a great place to look at trees.  When my wife and I were dating, a typical date was to go look at trees......We weren't the bar-hopping or dancing types .

Dodgy Loner, back then I was bitten by the dendrology bug every bit as bad as you are now .

[Dodgy Loner]

I went back there quite often for a few months after I had class there, and I've been back three more times in the last three years to teach my dendro classes.  It's my favorite lab.  I actually found the national champion GA buckeye near there.  It was several times larger than the previous champ.

[WDH]

Pavia or sylvatica?

[Dodgy Loner]

A. sylvatica, AKA painted buckeye.

[WDH]

What I have around here is Aesculus pavia, red buckeye.  It is one of our favorite plants around our homeplace.  Every fall, my wife and daughters gather the buckeyes and plant them around the house.  They flower a beautiful red very early in the spring at first leaf-out.  Here is a pic of red buckeye...........

 

Not a champion.............

[Lanier_Lurker]

So that is what I have growing in my back (woods) yard.

I've been meaning to snap some pics and post them here for identification.  You have saved me the trouble WDH.

When mixed together with a bunch of small hickories they don't exactly stand out once the flowers drop.  I have to look for the palmate vs pinnate compound arrangement.

How big does this get?

[WDH]

Most of the time it is a shrub up to several inches in diameter and up to 10 to 15 feet tall.  The Georgia Champion is about 5" in diameter and is a small tree.  It leafs out and flowers very early in the spring, before other trees are at full leaf-out.  Very pretty.

[Dodgy Loner]

There are some western ecotypes that are considerably larger than our trees.  If I remember correctly, the national champ is in Mississippi and is about 60' tall and 3' in diameter.  Our red buckeyes, as WDH mentioned, pale in comparison.

[WDH]

Wow!  3' in diameter is a DanG big buckeye..........I am going to have to look that one up.  Maybe Stew can provice a guide service .

[tcsmpsi]

WDH wooing a Southeast Texas Cherrybark Oak.

 

[WDH]

Here is a closer bark pic of the "wooed" cherrybark oak .

 

[Radar67]

Maybe Stew can provice a guide service .

According to my research, the National Champion Red Buckeye is in Roanoak, VA. I don't think you want me to guide you there.  There is a 3 foot 9 inch circumfrence Red Buckeye listed in Jasper County that is 28 feet tall.

Stew

[Dodgy Loner]

Whoops, you are correct.  The national champion buckeye is in Roanoke, VA.  It's 30" in diameter, 58' tall, with a 48 foot crown spread.  You'll notice that I said

If I remember correctly, the national champ is in Mississippi

 
Obviously I did NOT remember correctly