Shumard oak

Appalachian-Blue Ridge forests

Arizona Mountains forests

Atlantic coastal pine barrens

Blue Mountains forests

Canadian Aspen forests and parklands

Central Pacific Northwest coastal forests

Central Tallgrass prairie

Central-Southern Cascades Forests

Chilean Matorral

What it needs

Conditions

Light

Full sun / Part shade

Water

Moderate water

Spacing

480"

Habit

Large deciduous red oak, broad-pyramidal in youth becoming open and rounded

Care tips

•

Reach for Shumard oak instead of pin oak on alkaline or clay soils — it resists the iron chlorosis that yellows and weakens pin oak on high-pH sites, while looking very similar.

•

Give it room: at 50-70 feet tall with a 30-40 foot spread, it is a tree for large lawns, parks, and wide street plantings, not a small lot.

•

Lean on its toughness for hot, dry, compacted, or urban sites where many shade trees struggle — it tolerates heat, drought, and city conditions well.

Lifecycle

Planting

Plant in spring or fall in full sun (it accepts part shade) in moist, well-drained soil, but lean on its tolerance: NC State Extension and horticultural use document that Shumard oak handles alkaline clay, heat, drought, and urban conditions far better than pin oak, and it resists the iron chlorosis that yellows pin oak on high-pH soil. Give it real room — figure on a 30-40 foot spread at maturity.

Transplanting

Move young trees while dormant in late winter to early spring. Like most red oaks it transplants more reliably than the white oaks; set balled-and-burlapped or container stock at the original depth and water deeply through the first seasons.

Early growth

Growth is moderate and steady — faster than the white oaks but not a rush job. Water through the first 2-3 seasons, mulch off the trunk, and train to a single central leader; protect young saplings from deer browse for the first few years.

Maturity

Matures into a 50-70 foot tree with an open, rounded crown and a 30-40 foot spread; it is strong-wooded, long-lived, and notably free of the chlorosis and decline that shorten pin oak's life on poor urban soils. Acorns mature on the red-oak 2-year cycle and feed a wide range of birds and mammals.

Propagation

Propagated from the acorns. As a red-oak-group species, the acorns need a period of cold, moist stratification before spring germination — sow fresh in protected ground in fall, or stratify in damp medium through winter for a spring sowing.

Pollination

Wind-pollinated

Monoecious and wind-pollinated, like all oaks — drooping yellowish-green male catkins and small female flowers appear on the same tree in spring and shed dry pollen rather than offering nectar to bees or butterflies. A single tree sets its own acorns. Its habitat value lies in its foliage as larval food for many moths and butterflies and in its acorns as fall and winter mast for birds and mammals.

Plants don't grow alone

Larval host

Moth

Polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus)

Oaks (Quercus spp.) are a foundational larval host for the giant silkmoth Polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus), whose caterpillars feed on oak foliage through summer — part of the keystone Lepidoptera community oaks support.

Larval host

Moth

Imperial moth (Eacles imperialis)

Imperial moth (Eacles imperialis) larvae feed on oak foliage among the many hairstreak and duskywing species oak canopy hosts; oak is one of the most important larval-host genera in eastern North America.

Seed forage

Mammal

Eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)

Squirrels harvest and cache the acorns; as with all oaks, this both feeds the squirrels and disperses the acorns that escape being eaten.

Seed forage

Mammal

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus)

Deer browse the fallen acorns heavily in fall and winter; oak mast is a major component of their cold-season diet.

Seed forage

Bird

Eastern songbirds (multi-species) (multiple species (Passeriformes))

Acorns are an important fall and winter mast food for blue jays, woodpeckers, wild turkeys, and other nut-eating birds, which also help disperse the acorns.

Shelter / habitat

Bird

Black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus)

Mature oaks provide cavities, bark-foraging surfaces, and the abundant caterpillars that cavity-nesting songbirds rely on to raise their young; recorded as plausible for this species rather than a Shumard-specific documented tie.

Shelter / habitat

Bird

Downy woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens)

Woodpeckers forage on oak trunks and limbs and excavate cavities in older wood; recorded as plausible for this species rather than a Shumard-specific documented tie.

For people

Toxic — do not consume

Grown purely as a shade, street, and wildlife tree, not for food. Like other oaks, its acorns and foliage carry tannins that are toxic to livestock if eaten in quantity, so it should not be relied on as forage; the strong, durable wood is used as red-oak lumber.

Sources & citations

Cite this page

For lesson plans, articles, or research that uses this page. To cite a single upstream fact instead, use its specific source listed below.

Plotwright. (2026, May 17). Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii). Retrieved 2026, June 15, from https://plotwright.garden/plants/quercus-shumardii

Sources for every fact

Every fact on this page traces to a source. 18 fields cited - 18 source-backed.

NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox

University extension service

Backs 17 fields

Identity

Summary

Plant type

Light

Moisture

Hardiness

Heat zone

Size

Spacing

Habit

Design roles

Seasonal interest

Growth stages

Lifecycle

Regional guidance

Success tips

Designer notes

Wikimedia Commons

Photo · CC BY-SA 4.0

Backs 1 field

Image

GBIF

Botanical research database

Wikipedia (ecoregion articles)

Botanical research database