Shingle Oak (Quercus imbricaria) is a member of the Red Oak group and the Beech family. Native to North America, it is found in the Midwest and Upper South, like Illinois, Ohio, Alabama, and even southern New York. Like other oaks, the Shingle Oak produced acorns as its fruit, which is a very important food source for small ground mammals like squirrels and chipmunks. A notable feature of the Shingle Oak is its pyramidal leaf structure while it’s young, which fills out into a large, rounded canopy when it matures. The wood from Shingle Oak trees was historically used by French colonists to make shingles for the roofs of their houses, which is where the tree’s common name arises from.
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Photos taken at Old Town June 2022.