Northern Red Oak is one of the more common and widespread overstory trees in North Carolina.

Granville Co., NC 4/27/08.

Granville Co., NC 4/27/08.

The leaves of Shumard Oak and Scarlet Oak are similar, but are glossy above and more deeply lobed. Black Oak (Q. velutina) has highly variable leaves that can look a lot like N. Red Oak, but the leaves are pubescent beneath (N. Red Oak's are smooth except for small tufts in the vein axils) and the bark is rougher and blackish.

The leaves of saplings tend to be very shallowly lobed.

Orange Co., NC 10/15/06.

The large acorns have shallow caps. Chatham Co., NC 9/21/03.

Orange Co., NC 10/15/06.

Bark of a medium-sized tree. The trunk usually has long vertical veins of pale gray smooth bark separated by shallow furrows of rough bark (also a feature of Shumard Oak).

Bark of a large tree.

Orange Co., NC 10/15/06.

Bark of a medium-sized tree.

Granville Co., NC 4/27/08.