COMMON NAMES: WATER OAK, POSSUM OAK, SPOTTED OAK, DUCK OAK, PUNK OAK, DARLINGTON OAK, DIAMONDLEAF OAK, SWAMP LAUREL OAK, LAUREL LEAF OAK, OBTUSA OAK

Quercus nigra  (KWER-kus NI-gra)

Fagaceae (Beech Family)

Deciduous to evergreen shade tree

HEIGHT:   50 to 80 feet
SPREAD:   30 to 50 feet
FINAL SPACING: 20 to 50 feet

NATURAL HABITAT AND PREFERRED SITE:   North and southeast Texas in moist to west soils.

IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION:  Water oak is a large-growing and spreading shade tree. Has a broad, oval to rounded overall shape, leaves are spoon-shaped, persistent and sometimes evergreen.

FLOWERS AND FRUIT: Male and female flowers are separate but on the same tree, monoecious. As with all oaks they are not very showy. Fruit ripens as ½ inch acorns in the fall September through October. Flowers emerge with the leaves in the spring.

BARK:     Light brown to grayish black, smooth in youth but developing heavier texture with age. Water oak will have irregular patches of smooth bark and slightly furrowed heavily textured bark on young and mature trees.

FOLIAGE:  Leaves are simple, alternate and persistent, various shapes but often spoon shaped. Some tree will be completely deciduous, others almost totally evergreen. Weak fall color varies from yellow to brown, summer color is deep green.

CULTURE:  Water oak grows well in east Texas, the Houston area and other similar soil locations. It likes moist, neutral to acid soils and can be even grown in water-logged, oxygen- deficient soils where other trees would have a great problem. It responds well to fertilizer and grows well under the Basic Organic Program.

PROBLEMS: This tree needs plenty of moisture and neutral to acid soils. It will not grow well in the alkaline black and white soils of North and Central Texas. It is occasionally attacked by scale insects and various chewing insects but these pests are always related to environmental stress.

PROPAGATION:  Done from acorns by planting them immediately after they have released from the tree in the fall. They can also be kept stratified at 30 to 35 degrees in the winter and planted in the spring.

INSIGHT:  Laurel oak, (Quercus laurifolia) is similar in appearance and adaptability is often found growing nearby. Laurel oak has longer and more slender leaves similar to willow oak. Laurel oak is also sold as Darlington oak. This tree is basically evergreen and does best in the same moist soils with willow and water oaks. but likes soils that are better drained.