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How to Identify a Scarlet Oak Leaf

Named for their vibrant red leaves in autumn, the scarlet oak naturally ranges along the East Coast of the United States and west to Missouri and Mississippi. This fast-growing tree has smooth bark and squat acorns with rings around their peaks. In spring and summer, the leaves range from medium green to dark emerald green and grow up to six inches in length. While the scarlet leaves are easier to recognize, you can identify the green leaves if you look closely at a leaf's characteristics.

Instructions

- 1
  Ensure the leaf is broad, not a needle-like or scale-like leaf.
- 2
  See if the leaves are alternate, if you have access to a twig or branch. Opposite leaves are two leaves growing from the same spot on either side of a branch. Scarlet oak leaves alternate on branches.
- 3
  Determine that the leaf is simple, not compound. A simple leaf grows individually, but a compound leaf is made of leaflets that may appear to be small simple leaves. Check the end of the leaf for the axillary bud, the small nub at the end of a leaf's stalk. No axillary bud means you have a leaflet from a compound leaf.
- 4
  Feel the leaf for a thin papery texture. This shows the leaf is a deciduous leaf instead of an evergreen, such as holly.
- 5
  Check the leaf for lobes, pointy extensions and large depressions in the leaf's silhouette.
- 6
  See that the leaves are not star-shaped.
- 7
  Determine that one vein runs down the leaf. If the leaf fits all the aforementioned criteria, the leaf came from an oak species.
- 8
  Look at the base of the leaf for shallow tapering in a wide V-shape, instead of sharp tapering, rounding or bell shapes.
- 9
  Ensure that the lobes are small and the C-shaped indentations called sinuses are large.

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