{"id":20481,"date":"2022-11-21T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-11-21T13:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/?p=20481"},"modified":"2025-07-30T16:01:49","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T20:01:49","slug":"intro-to-trees-of-indiana-bur-oak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/fnr\/extension\/intro-to-trees-of-indiana-bur-oak\/","title":{"rendered":"Intro to Trees of Indiana: Bur Oak"},"content":{"rendered":"

The classic and trusted book “Fifty Common Trees of Indiana” by T.E. Shaw was\u00a0published in 1956 as a user-friendly guide to local species.\u00a0\u00a0Nearly 70 years later, the publication has\u00a0been updated through a joint effort by the Purdue Department of Forestry and Natural Resources,\u00a0Indiana 4-H<\/a>, and\u00a0the\u00a0Indiana Department of Natural Resources<\/a>, and reintroduced as “An Introduction to Trees of Indiana.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0full publication<\/a>\u00a0is available for download for $7 in the Purdue Extension Education Store. The field guide helps identify common Indiana woodlot trees.<\/p>\n

Each week, the Intro to\u00a0Trees of Indiana web\u00a0series will offer a sneak peek at one species from the book, paired with an\u00a0ID That Tree video from Purdue Extension forester\u00a0Lenny Farlee<\/a>\u00a0to help visualize each species as it stands in the woods.\u00a0Threats to species\u00a0health\u00a0as well as\u00a0also\u00a0insight into the wood provided by the species, will be provided\u00a0through additional resources as well as the\u00a0Hardwoods of the Central Midwest<\/a> exhibit of the Purdue Arboretum, if available. \"Drawing<\/a><\/p>\n

This week, we take a look at the second of our oak varieties in Indiana, the Bur Oak or\u00a0Quercus macrocarpa<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The bur oak has rounded lobes on the end of the leaves, which have deep sinuses and are very broad across the top. Leaves are typically dark green that turn yellow or brown in the fall.<\/p>\n

The bark on bur oak is medium to dark gray in color with heavy ridges and plates, often so thick that it is often fire resistant and resistant to damage from burning. Bur oak may have terminal buds that include small hairs and resemble bear claws.<\/p>\n

The fruit of the bur oak is an acorn with a large cap that features a hairy fringe forming a burr along the outside edge. The acorns vary in size, but average one inch in length, and the cap covers half to two thirds of the acorn.<\/p>\n

Bur oaks, which grow to 70-80 feet tall and up to five feet wide, are common in both bottomlands and prairie regions, and can tolerate many different sites. Bur oaks can be found in nearly any county and any habitat type in Indiana. The natural range of bur oak is the eastern Great Plains from the Dakotas to Ohio to the eastern Appalachians, except through the southeastern United States. The range also extends into southern Canada.<\/p>\n

Lumber from the white oak group, which includes bur oak, is among the heaviest next to hickory, weighing in at 45 pounds per cubic foot. It is very resistant to decay and is one of the best woods for steam bending. Bur oak, however, is somewhat weaker than other species in the white oak group.<\/p>\n