Red oak
Quercus rubraRed 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 →
Jarro Nevsbaru, CC BY 4.0
Lookalikes
Red oak or sessile oak?
Both have acorns that sit against the twig, on a very short stalk or none at all.
The quickest check
The quickest check is the acorn and its cup. Red oak: squat, in a cup like a shallow saucer. Sessile oak: egg-shaped, in a scaly wooden cup. No acorns on the tree? Check the lobes along the edge.
At a glance
| Look at | Red oak | Sessile oak |
|---|---|---|
| Acorn and its cup | Squat, in a cup like a shallow saucer | Egg-shaped, in a scaly wooden cup |
| Lobes along the edge | Pointed, every tooth ending in a fine bristle | Shallow and regular, five or six a side |
Two ways to tell them apart
Acorn and its cupAcorns
Lobes along the edgeLeaves
The two trees
Sessile oak
Quercus petraeaSessile oak is a tall, straight tree, common in the hills and the west. Its trunk runs far up into the crown. The acorns sit on the twig, on a very short stalk or none.
How to identify sessile oak →
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
Free to download.
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: Jarro Nevsbaru (CC BY 4.0), steve_mcwilliam (CC0), Maksymilian Bobko (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.