Medicinal Monday - Northern Red Oak

The Northern Red Oaktree is a native tree of  North America and grows in the eastern and central United States. In addition to its importance to the timber industry, many Native American Tribes`used this tree for a variety of ailments from chills and fever to sore chapped skin. This winter when walking the grounds of the Institute look for the distinctive red algae that grows in the inner crevices of the bark of Northern Oak trees.  Winter is the best time to spot this growth.

About the Northern Red Oak

Northern Red Oak Trees can live up to 400 years and can grow up to 141 feet tall and be 6.6 feet in diameter. One of the most distinguishing characteristics of this tree is its bark which features bark ridges that appear to have shiny stripes down the center.  This is the only oak tree with striping all the way down the trunk.  The leaves of this tree alternate and are seven to nine lobed and oblong-ovate to oblong and are five to ten inches long and four to six inches wide. Leaves emerge from pink buds in the spring and in the autumn they turn a bright red or brown. The acorns mature in 18 months and are green in color at first and mature into a nut-brown cup shape. The white kernel inside and the nut is very bitter.  Unlike many other oak tree species, the Northern Red Oak will not germinate without a minimum of three months' exposure to sub 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Medicinal Uses of the Red Oak
The Cherokee, Malecite, Ojibwa, Potawatomi, and Micmac use an infusion of bark and fur cones or bark and roots to treat chronic dysentery.  The bark has an astringent quality and is chewed to relieve sores in the mouth by the Cherokee and the inner bark was used to treat hoarseness and severe coughs by Delaware, and Oklahoma. The Chippewa have a ceremony using a compound decoction of the inner bark to treat heart trouble, and the Ojibwa use a decoction of the bark as a blood medicine to treat internal diseases as well as to treat heart trouble and as a respiratory aid. The Rappahannock make an infusion of the bark and drink it as a bitter-tasting beverage for beneficial health benefits.

Did You Know...

The Ashford Oak is a famous Northern Red Oak specimen tree located in Ashford Connecticut.

It is the most common species of oak in the northeastern US after the closely related pin oak.

Despite its bitterness, the kernel of the Northern Red Oak is eaten by deer, squirrels, and birds.

The Northern Red Oak is the State Tree of New Jersey and the provincial tree of Prince Edward Island.

It is one of the most important oaks for timber production in North America. 

Construction uses include flooring, veneer, interior trim, and furniture.

In Europe, northern red oak acorns, have become the food of several moth species.