definitely not white oak. white oaks have rounded lobes. it looks most like a pin oak or scarlet oak to me.

Maybe Shumard oak.

What do the acorns look like? That could give an answer.

Most likely either shumard or texas red oak if it's in alkaline soil. Pin oak isn't very common unless you live in the far east Texas where the soil is acidic unless you live in rare pockets of acidic soil across Central/north central Texas.I rarely ever see Pin Oak get sold in stores.

Perhaps J.D. should tell us where it came from and what kind of soil it was growing in. That will narrow the list a lot more quickly. :)

Pin oak, scarlet oak, or black oak.

Tree is at Schertz, TX - far north San Antonio. I believe the soil is tight clay. I was thinking red oak also, but I just couldn't remember the bark looking like that.

acorn
{{gwi:462796}}

It's 100% definitely a Shumard Oak (Quercus shumardii)
Which is a pretty fast growing oak in the red oak family.

treeguy
The pictured tree is about 30 years old and a magnificent specimen in my FNL's front yard. I don't think I'll bother telling him its not a white oak - he's 83 (today) and doesn't need a young 48 year old whipper-snapper correcting him.
; - )

LOL. Could have sworn it'd be Texas Red Oak. Shumard tend to have straight trunk while Texas Red oak tend to have multiple trunks. There is easy way to tell is by looking at the terminal buds. If terminal and lateral buds are same size, it's Texas Red Oak. If the Terminal is large while lateral buds are smaller, it's Shumard oak. I hope I'm making sense! :)

Lou,
I think I understand what you're saying. Wish I had paid closer attention to the crown. In any event, I did gather several acorns - think I'll give them a try.
J.D.

The acorn does look like Shumard oak. But the bark seems lighter & smoother than the usual, and the leaf-density is unusually dense. Could be a Texas Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii var texana).

J.D.

Not sure if you already know this but figure out a way to "air prune" the tap root of oak seedling. it could be some kind of container with bottomless sitting on chicken wire (something small enough to keep medium mix from falling through. Around 4 inches depth would be good enough (google whitcomb system). They can send REALLY long tap root with little top growth as I've learned my lesson the hard way. Ever saw 1.5 feet long tap root in 4 inches Styrofoam cup? It just kept circling around and around and around in the tiny cup!

Here's the article about identification of red oak... www.cityofirving.org/inspections/red-oak.html

Lou,
I'll give them plenty of container. Maybe I'll plant them all in a 20 gal container and see what germinates. I could separate them later.

beng,
That bark is what kind of threw me, too. It is very fine textured and that mottled light coloration is just beautiful under the dense green canopy. I'm sure that is why my FNL wanted to call it a 'white oak'.

J.D.

Just 4-5 inches depth pots with bottomless will work best to air prune tap roots and let them develop root system (by branching out lateral roots as a response to tap root being air pruned at 4 inches). Trust me, trying to fix long tap root is a nightmare and will severely set them back as I've found out. Mine are aren't even a foot after germinating in spring 2006. By now, they should be several feet tall... I'm getting rid of them! Check out whitcomb website and read the articles. it's pretty interesting.

OK, Lou, I'll do it.
J.D.

I'd say it's a Texas Red Oak (Quercus buckleyi) (listed as Quercus texana in most texts older than 7 or 8 years old and probably still listed that way in recent Texas publications). The leaf doesn't match up, nor does the trunk and growth habit with Shumard Oak and the acorn looks more like Texas Red Oak to me. There are hybrids between Shumard and Texas Red Oaks which occur often in North Texas (especially in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth area) which can complicate things a bit.

Could you see any tufts of hairs in the vein axils on the underside of the leaves? If the undersides of the leaves look completely hairless, then it's definitely Texas Red Oak. Also, did your FNL plant this tree himself, and hence did he find it growing wild locally? If he found it growing wild near San Antonio, it's Texas Red Oak, since Shumard Oak's native range heads Eastwards as you go South in Texas, while the native range of texas Red Oak heads Westwards as you go South in Texas(clipping the San Antonio area).

kman,
I'm kicking myself for not bringing a leaf home with me. I just don't remember seeing any hairs, but, then again, I wasn't looking for any.

FNL has only lived there 2 years. The neighborhood is 30 years old and an original resident remembers the tree being planted as a 6' twig.