With the sparse clues, looks like Shumard.

Haven't ever heard of your last entry.

I'd tend to go with Shumard too, but a close-up of the underside of a leaf will help.

Resin

Shumard oaks in cultivation here have shallower lobes and a different leaf outline. Looks like a scarlet oak to me. Resin's comment about the hairs is indicative of what approach is needed, you will have to look at fairly serious descriptions of the likely species and learn what technical characters differentiate them. Another thing that would help would be to look at labeled live specimens thought correctly identified, if these are available to you (as in a botanical garden, arboretum or experiment station demonstration planting).

Scarlet Oak is not native to anywhere in Arkansas so it's not that. Doesn't look like a type of Cherrybark Oak. Nuttall Oak could be a possibility but I think it looks more like Shumard Oak. Also any other type of oak would be ruled out.

So it's probably a Shumard Oak (Quercus shumardii)

Also Shumard Oak can have deep sinuses and longer lobes than what some people are used to seeing. All the Shumard Oaks here all have deep sinuses.

I appreciate all your comments. Resin, although I am without a camera at present, the underside of the leaf is the same color as the top and there are tiny hair tufts along vein angles of the central vein. The underneath of the leaves can be seen in the bottom photo center top leaf. The tree I believe the acorn came from has leaves like the bottom photo low on the tree but most are like the top photo 10 feet and above.

"sinuses"

sinuses? sini?

;-)

You might want to try and run it through the keys here

Here is a link that might be useful: Field Guide to the Native Oaks of eastern North America (pdf, huge!)

Actually Scarlet Oak is native in pockets along the Eastern 1/4 of Arkansas, but it's uncommon. The fact that the parent tree was growing in a bottom land further excludes Q. coccinea though.

Also, falcata var. leucophylla is considered a synonym for Q. pagoda (Q. falcata var. pagodifolia). So, that leaves three possible Oak species which all grow in flood plains, Q. shumardii, Q. nuttallii, and Q. pagoda. The leaves in the first photo look more like Q. shumardii to me, but the leaves in the second photo look more similar to Q. pagoda. A couple of easy ways to eliminate Q. pagoda are the buds and leaf undersides. Are the buds red-brown and hairless, or are they a orange-brown(or light reddish-brown, not dark reddish-brown) and somewhat hairy? If they are orange-brown and hairy, then it's Q. pagoda, if they're red-brown and hairless, then it's not Q. pagoda. Are any of the leaf undersides hairy or only hairy along the mid-veins? If only along the mid-veins then it's likely not Q. pagoda. Also, are the top leaf surfaces quite shiny or are they more a matte or dull? If they are shiny then it's likely to be Q. shumardii, if matte then it's not Q. shumardii. Also, if you have any acorns or acorn caps from the original tree, is the inside of the acorn cap hairy or mostly hairless? If it's mostly hairless, it's Q. shumardii, and if it's hairy, then it's Q. nuttallii. I agree with the others that it's most likely Q. shumardii from what I can tell in your photos, but you can tell us for sure based on any of these characteristics that you see or don't see on the tree or the parent tree.

Scarlet Oak is only native to these states: AL,CT,DE,GA,IL,IN,KY,ME,MD,MA,MI,MS,MO,NH,NJ,NY,NC,OH,PA,RI,SC, TN,VA,VT,WV.
Native Range of Scarlet Oak:
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There are a few Scarlet Oaks that were planted around cities or homes in a few isolated spots in east AR but no established forest species of Scarlet Oaks in AR because their not not native to AR.

According to the Flora of North America, Q. coccinea is native to Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., D.C., Ga., Ill., Ind., Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Vt., Va., W.Va., Wis.

Also, I know of native Arkansans that report groves of Q. coccinea growing natively in spots of Eastern Arkansas.

Here's the range map from the FNA.

Several other references, like "Trees of Georgia and Adjacent States" and "Trees of the Southeastern United States" also list Q. coccinea as being native in Arkansas.

Thanks to you all for very useful information. Kman04 or others, is there a good reference book that would have the detailed type of information on the buds, leaf undersides, and acorn caps as outlined? So many tree books are very general in their treatments. The US Forestry link from Resin is a marvelous resource; however, in this case was not decisive for me. Ironically, the link shows the Scarlet Oak distributed in a few counties of Arkansas as well as in Mississippi close to where the Arkansas River meets the Mississippi River.

The Flora of North America has lots of detailed descriptions, as do most Floras (like the Flora of the Great Plains, etc.). Many field guides on trees also have some decent information on buds, acorn caps, etc. The book "Oaks of North America" by Howard A. Miller and Samuel Lamb is an excellent book with lots of detailed descriptions.

Here is a link that might be useful: Flora of North America key to the Red Oak Group

Flora of North America only outlines a rough drawn area of its range they don't go into detail. My map above came from the U.S. Forest Service and there usually very accurate on the native range locations and I think that's the maps Flora of North America uses to draw there quick maps. They probably list where people have seen Scarlet grow before. It is also possible some planted many many years ago have spread new seedlings but that doesn't mean they were native. There's really no way to be 100% sure.
Another USDA native range map:
Link

Just a request about posting maps . . . it's OK to hotlink to the USDA maps, as they are in the public domain (being works of the US Federal Government), but hotlinking the Flora of North America map is a breach of their copyright. Please don't do so!! - just post a link to the map in the "Optional Link URL:" at the foot of the follow-up box

Thanks!

Resin

Updating on the characterisitcs... the buds are reddish brown and hairless. The leaves underneath have tiny hair tufts only along the midvein. The leaves are more dull than shiny. Based on above info the Q. pagoda is out. The US Forestry link mentions Shumard as having 5 to 9 lobes; the Q. nuttallii (covered as texana) is said to have between 5 to 11 lobes. This little tree has a number of 11 lobed leaves, one is in the top photo. Also, the Shumard oaks that are in the area this tree came from are pretty true to form and look just like the forestry photo on the link. I am voting on the Nuttall. At any rate, whatever it is, it is just beginning to show some red fall color. Thanks again all for your help.

There are plenty of errors and flaws in both the U.S. Forest Service range maps, as well as those from the FNA. They both do give good estimates of where things are native though. I will say that the FNA maps are in part based on herbarium collections at various regional universities which include collection locales and descriptions, so I'd guess that at a university in or near Arkansas there are supposedly wild collected Q. coccinea specimens to be found. There are plenty of other references which list Q. coccinea as growing in parts of Eastern Arkansas(I listed 2 previously) and I trust the people who reported wild groves of Q. coccinea in spots of Eastern Arkansas as being knowledgeable enough about them to correctly identify them as native vs. escapes from cultivation.

All of this is besides the point in relation to the original poster though, since none of us thinks that Oak is Q. coccinea.

I've never known Q. coccinea to grow as far south as either of those maps indicate.

Looks too light greenish to be shumard compared to mine. The red oak that does great in alkaline soil including rocky caliche soil seem to always have dark green leaves. It's usually either Texas Red oak or Shumard. In my case, the easiest way to know which red oak will thrive in this type of soil is just looking at terminal buds' size which is 1/4" in length. The ones that prefer acidic soil have 1/8" terminal buds.

Probably totally pointless to this thread...

I vote with the Shumard crowd. Or possibly some type of Shymard/Northern Red hybrid.

lancetn, my 10' tall Shumard from OIKOS is actually a bit different than the usual southern source (IN actually). However, it too has many relatively "juvenile", 10-11 lobed leaves on the vigorous sprouts, and are more matte & lighter green. The more "mature" leaves on inner branches have the classical Shumard look of dark green w/shiny tops & 7 - 9 lobed. So it may take some time w/young oaks before mature characteristics are the rule.

lou_midlothian_tx,

The Shumard Oaks growing out here in KS, OK, and TX seem to be somewhat different than their more Easterly counterparts. The Shumard Oak further East are typically growing in mesic conditions and attain great height, while the ones out our way tend to grow in drier rocky, more alkaline soils and they don't usually grow quite as large(although I've seen some rather tall ones). I've also noticed that the Shumard Oak out our way tend to have somewhat smaller, darker green leaves(also thicker and shinier many times), while many of the more Easterly ones have more of a medium to medium-dark green color. All of these things have lead to some speculation that the Western Shumard Oaks might be a unique variety (some even think it's perhaps a separate species in much the same way Q. laurifolia and Q. hemisphaerica are)

I was on a trip this past week to Arkansas and took a detour to the source tree to obtain some acorns. Following Kman04's line of testing--- "if you have any acorns or acorn caps from the original tree, is the inside of the acorn cap hairy or mostly hairless? If it's mostly hairless, it's Q. shumardii, and if it's hairy, then it's Q. nuttallii."---the acorns show the tree is Q. shumardii. The inside cap is mostly hairless. Further the acorns have the characteristic overlapping scales, short stalk, and mostly flat top.

I learned from the Louisiana State University Ag Center site that the Nuttall acorn "has a distinctive cap with scales extending onto the projection holding the acorn to the twig. This characteristic makes it readily identifiable from all other southern acorns." These acorns are definitely not the Nuttall. This confirms the central insights given. Thanks for your help.

Lanctin, can you post a photo of the tree's acorns along with measurement values, and also of a branch, which reveals a clear view of the buds? If so, be sure to also include the measured length of the buds.

Another ident key to run it through

Here is a link that might be useful: Flora of North America

Have been out of town and just able to get back to you. I have no digital camera at present, but fortunately, the link below to the Virginia Tech Dendrology site shows acorn photos that are truly identical (shape, size, color, cap scales, stem) to the acorns I collected. I looked at quite a few descriptions and photos of the Scarlet Oak acorns and these did not match.

Here is a link that might be useful: VTech Dendrology