Common Name: Oak, Southern Red
Latin Name: Quercus falcata
Address: Oakwood Cemetery,
GPS Coordinates: 38.024631, -78.485995
Oakwood Cemetery has served as Charlottesville’s primary public cemetery since the 1860s. Park your car and walk through the cemetery to see an impressive Southern Red Oak, its graceful form adding character to this historic landscape.
The Southern Red Oak is a medium-sized, straight-trunked oak. As it ages, its branches reach outward and upward, gradually forming a broad, graceful crown. Young trees have smooth, gray bark, but with age the bark darkens and develops deep furrows, eventually becoming almost black.
Look closely at the leaves, and you’ll discover what makes this oak especially distinctive. Their unusual shape is often compared to a turkey’s foot. The bases of some leaves have a bell-like appearance, giving rise to the nickname “Southern Belle.” The sharply pointed lobes have also been compared to the graduated roofs of pagodas—a fitting description for foliage with such an unusual and memorable form.
Thin and papery, the leaves are deeply lobed and tipped with tiny bristles. Their upper surfaces are glossy, dark green, while the undersides are covered with soft gray or tawny hairs, particularly along the midrib and veins. When a breeze turns the leaves over, the contrast between dark green and muted gray-brown can be surprisingly striking.
In autumn, the leaves take on warm reddish-brown tones before drifting to the forest floor, adding another seasonal dimension to these distinctive and stately trees.