# Maple-leaf Oak (Quercus acerifolia) > A rare red oak of a few Arkansas mountaintops, with broad leaves shaped like a sugar maple's that turn red in fall. Also called maple-leaved oak, mapleleaf oak, Quercus shumardii var. acerifolia. Category: Rare & Uncommon Oaks. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/maple-leaf-oak/ ![Maple-leaf oak (Quercus acerifolia) broad, maple-shaped leaves in russet autumn color, backlit](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/maple-leaf-oak-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: Homoarborea, CC0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AQuercus_acerifolia_%282%29_Meise_Nationale_Plantentuin.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Small tree - Mature height: 20 to 50 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 9 - Grows wild in: Rocky ground and dry uplands - Native range: Arkansas - Sun: Full - Soil moisture: Dry, Average - Growth rate: Slow - Traits: Rare, Fall color, Drought tolerant - Sold as: Saplings, Acorns Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. ## Availability Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed. ## Notes Maple-leaf oak grows wild on a handful of dry, rocky ridgetops in west-central Arkansas, on Magazine, Porter, Pryor and Sugarloaf mountains. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled, and the IUCN Red List rates it Endangered. The Wildflower Center reports it listed as threatened by the state of Arkansas. Its finder, E. J. Palmer, first described it in 1927 as a variety of Shumard oak. Grow it as a small shade tree on a dry, open site, or as the centerpiece of an oak collection. ## Size, growth and what to expect A tree raised from Arkansas seed at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens in England stood 17 feet at 17 years and 24 feet at 28. That is about a foot a year, the slow class of our growth estimator. Garden trees reach 40 to 50 feet, with a spread of 20 to 30. On Mount Magazine the biggest wild tree stands about 20 feet. It flowers from March to May, and as a red oak it ripens its acorns at the end of the second season. Collectors have gathered them from mid-September on Mount Magazine and nearby peaks, and some ripen as late as November. The acorns are about three quarters of an inch long, a quarter to a third in a shallow cup. Palmer's own acorns grew into a tree at the Arnold Arboretum, and a seedling of it planted at the Morton Arboretum in 1950 is thought the finest in cultivation. A tree in France raised from 2011 seed bore its first acorns in 2020. ## How to grow Maple-leaf Oak Maple-leaf oak wants full sun and an average to dry, well-drained soil, and it takes drought well once rooted. On Mount Magazine, trees overtopped by taller growth have died back in the crown. Set trees 20 feet apart, and keep each one 15 feet from a wall and more than 50 feet from overhead wires. Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them dormant, from leaf fall until bud swell, in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Red oak acorns need a winter's chill before they sprout. Sow them in fall an inch deep under hardware cloth. For spring, hold them damp in the refrigerator for four to twelve weeks first. Never let them dry out, since acorns die when dried. Water every week or two through the first summer, then only in a long drought. Deer and rabbits browse young oaks, so guard each sapling with a tube or cage for its first three years. It often grows several trunks from the base, so keep one leader for a single trunk or let it stay multistemmed. The flowers are wind pollinated, and an acorn crop wants another oak nearby. As a red oak it can catch oak wilt, so prune only in the dormant season, to avoid the beetles that spread it. Wild trees have long set few sound acorns, with gall wasps that damage the seed, heat and drought to blame. Otherwise it is durable and long-lived. ## Sources - [Flora of North America, vol. 3: Quercus acerifolia](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233501004) - [USDA Forest Service, Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America, FHTET-03-01, Stein, Binion and Acciavatti 2003](https://rngr.net/publications/field-guide-to-native-oak-species-of-eastern-north-america) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Quercus acerifolia](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=QUAC2) - [Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: Quercus acerifolia](https://plantfinder.mobot.org/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=280780) - [Trees and Shrubs Online, International Dendrology Society: Quercus acerifolia, Coombes and Cameron 2026](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/quercus/quercus-acerifolia/) - [APGA and USDA Forest Service Tree Gene Conservation Partnership: A Summary Report of the 2017 Arkansas Collection Trip for Quercus acerifolia, Richard A. Larson, The Dawes Arboretum, November 14, 2017](https://members.publicgardens.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/2017-Quercus-acerifolia-Final-Report.pdf) - [APGA Tree Gene Conservation Partnership: Quercus acerifolia](https://members.publicgardens.org/tree_gene_conservati/quercus-acerifolia/) - [NatureServe Explorer: Quercus acerifolia](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.129701/Quercus_acerifolia) - [Oaks of the World, Jean-Louis Hélardot: Quercus acerifolia](http://oaks.of.the.world.free.fr/quercus_acerifolia.htm) - [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Quercus chapter, Bonner](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Quercus.pdf) - [USDA PLANTS: Quercus acerifolia (Palmer) Stoynoff & Hess, QUAC2](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/QUAC2) ## Read before planting - [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md) - [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md) - [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) - [Red oaks and white oaks, and where each belongs](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/red-oaks-and-white-oaks/index.html.md) - [When oaks leaf out, and why two of them never agree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/when-oaks-leaf-out/index.html.md) - [Marcescence: why young beeches and oaks keep their dead leaves all winter](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/marcescence/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Maple-leaf Oak, add ?species=maple-leaf-oak with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=maple-leaf-oak&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Maple-leaf Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=maple-leaf-oak): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard. - [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=maple-leaf-oak - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Maple-leaf Oak is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=maple-leaf-oak - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Maple-leaf Oak needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=maple-leaf-oak:2 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Maple-leaf Oak flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.