English oak or red oak?

A big oak of the same parks, with lobed leaves and acorns.

The quickest check

The quickest check is the ends of the lobes. English oak: rounded, three to six lobes a side. Red oak: pointed, every tooth ending in a fine bristle. No leaves on the tree? Check the acorn cup.

At a glance

Look at	English oak	Red oak
Ends of the lobes	Rounded, three to six lobes a side	Pointed, every tooth ending in a fine bristle
Acorn cup	Scaly cup covering about a third of it	Shallow saucer covering only the bottom
Winter bud	Small, oval, light brown and hairless	Sharp chestnut, 5 to 7 mm, a reddish tuft
Older trunk	Grey, in short, deep, knobbly ridges	Smooth and grey, or wide, flat, shiny ridges

Four ways to tell them apart

Ends of the lobesLeaves

English oak: ends of the lobes — English oakRounded, three to six lobes a side

Red oak: ends of the lobes — Red oakPointed, every tooth ending in a fine bristle

Acorn cupAcorns

English oak: acorn cup — English oakScaly cup covering about a third of it

Red oak: acorn cup — Red oakShallow saucer covering only the bottom

Winter budTwigs and buds

English oak: winter bud — English oakSmall, oval, light brown and hairless

Red oak: winter bud — Red oakSharp chestnut, 5 to 7 mm, a reddish tuft

Older trunkBark

English oak: older trunk — English oakGrey, in short, deep, knobbly ridges

Red oak: older trunk — Red oakSmooth and grey, or wide, flat, shiny ridges

Think you can tell them apart now? Try the tree quiz: real photographs, and what gives each tree away.Take the quiz

The two trees

English oak

Quercus robur

English oak is a broad, spreading tree with heavy, twisting branches. Its leaves have deep rounded lobes and a very short stalk. The acorns hang on long stalks, often in pairs.

How to identify English oak →

Red oak

Quercus rubra

Red oak is a broad-crowned tree, planted in parks for its autumn colour. Its large, matt leaves have pointed lobes, and each tooth ends in a fine bristle.

How to identify red oak →

Their other lookalikes

English oak or common ash?Quickest check: the older trunk

English oak or common beech?Quickest check: the older trunk

English oak or sessile oak?Quickest check: the acorn stalk

English oak or holm oak?Quickest check: the outline of a leaf

Red oak or sessile oak?Quickest check: the acorn and its cup

In the app

See them side by side in Treely

Both trees, part by partLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed through the year
Every lookalike side by sideThe checks that settle it, for every pair people mix up
A short round each dayUntil you can tell them apart at a glance
The full GuideBoth trees written up in full, with where to find them

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Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.

Photographs: empressmoth (CC0), Leon Cross (CC BY 4.0), Jarro Nevsbaru (CC BY 4.0), Wendy Herniman (CC BY 4.0), Maksymilian Bobko (CC BY 4.0), dugald (CC0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.