Quercus imbricariaMichx.

Laurel OakShingle Oakshingle oak

WFO wfo-0000291331 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Quercus imbricaria, photographed by Tom Field
fig. a Tom Field, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-02 / obs. 202794251
Quercus imbricaria, photographed by Kaden Slone
fig. b Kaden Slone, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 172622223
Quercus imbricaria, photographed by Jeff Clark
fig. c Jeff Clark, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 164476105
Quercus imbricaria, photographed by Tom Field
fig. d Tom Field, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 162485832
Quercus imbricaria, photographed by Tom Field
fig. e Tom Field, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 162478321
Quercus imbricaria, photographed by Yann Kemper
fig. f Yann Kemper, CC0 1.0 / obs. 155232522
Quercus imbricaria, photographed by aarongunnar
fig. g aarongunnar, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 153459843
Quercus imbricaria, photographed by Yann Kemper
fig. h Yann Kemper, CC0 1.0 / obs. 149531218

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 22 botanical countries

Regions where Quercus imbricaria is native: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia AlabamaArkansasIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMarylandMichiganMissouriNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaOhioPennsylvaniaTennesseeTexasVirginiaWest Virginia DelawareDistrict of Columbia
Native distribution of Quercus imbricaria, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arkansas ARK
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maryland MRY
Michigan MIC
Missouri MSO
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Ohio OHI
Pennsylvania PEN
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 8 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Erythrobalanus imbricaria (Michx.) O.Schwarz
  • Quercus aprica Raf.
  • Quercus imbricaria var. inaequalifolia Kuntze
  • Quercus imbricaria var. spinulosa A.DC.
  • Quercus latifolia hort. ex Steud.
  • Quercus phellos var. imbricaria (Michx.) Spach
  • Quercus phellos var. imbricaria (Michx.) A.DC.
  • Quercus sonchifolia Booth ex Petz. & G.Kirchn.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.