About Oaks | Map | Plant List | Cultivar/Species Information | Sources | Other Campus Oaks of Interest
“Eros shook my mind like a mountain wind falling on oak trees” — Sappho, Frag. 47
Some places to start in the massive literature about the genus Quercus.
WEB RESOURCES:
International Oak Society
"Red or White," In Defense of Plants
International Dendrology Society species list and info
International Dendrology Society, Trees and Shrubs Online: Oak introduction
Oaks for Nebraska, Justin Evertson Nebraska Statewide Arboretum
Common Oaks of the Chicago Region, pictorial leaf, twig, acron guide and key (PDF)
Quercus Portal (an enormous amount of material and information about oaks, focused on European species)
SELECTED PRINT RESOURCES:
[Basic sources for the lay audience in bold]
_______________________________________________
◊ Three great books looking at oaks—and life—through a single specimen tree over the course of one to two years:
Canton, James. 2020. The Oak Papers. New York: HarperCollins. Creative non-fiction.
Two years spent with the 800 year-old Honywood Oak in North Essex, England.
[https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-oak-papers-james-canton?variant=32139148951586]
Hirsch, Mark. 2013. That Tree: An iPhone Photo Journal Documenting a Year in the Life of a Lonely Bur Oak. Chicago: Press Syndication Group.
https://www.thattree.net/. ("That tree" was felled by a derecho in the summer of 2020.)
Mapes, Lynda. 2017. Witness Tree: Seasons of Change With a Century-Old Oak. New York Bloomsbury.
A Red Oak in the Harvard Forest serves as a window through which Mapes explores not just oaks but climate change. See https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/witness-tree-social-media-project and https://harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu/witness-tree-book.
_______________________________________________
Gil-Pelegrín, Eustaquio, Peguero-Pina, José Javier, Sancho-Knapik, Domingo (eds.). 2017. Oaks Physiological Ecology. Exploring the Functional Diversity of Genus Quercus L. Vol. 7. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-69099-5.
Harris, Esmond, Jeanette Harris, James, and Noel David Glaves. 2003. Oak: A British History. Macclesfield: Windgather Press.
Hipp, Andrew L., Paul S. Manos, and Jeannine Cavender-Bares. 2020. "Ascent of the Oaks." Scientific American 323 (2): 42.
[Reprinted here.]
Keator, Glenn. 1998. The Life of an Oak: An Intimate Portrait. Berkeley, CA; Oakland, CA: Heyday Books; California Oak Foundation.
Le Hardÿ de Beaulieu, Antoine., Hoey Smith, J. R. P. van., Spoelberch, Philippe de.,Timacheff, Michel. 2005. An Illustrated Guide to Oaks. Portland : Timber Press. (Le Hardÿ de Beaulieu, Antoine., Lamant, Thierry. 2010. Guide Illustré Des Chênes. Geer, Belgique: Edilens.) OUT OF PRINT
Lewington, Richard and David Streeter. 1993. The Natural History of the Oak Tree: An Intricate Visual Exploration of the Oak and Its Environment. London: Dorling Kindersley.
Logan, William Bryant. 2005. Oak: The Frame of Civilization. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.
Michaux, André. 1801. Histoire des Chênes de l'Amérique. Paris: de l'imprimene de Crapelet.
Michaux, F. Andrew. 1817. The North American Silva; or A Description of the Forest trees of the United States, Canada, and Nova Scotia. Volume One.
Miller, Howard A., Lamb, Samuel H.,. 1985. Oaks of North America. Happy Camp, Calif.: Naturegraph Publishers.
Sargent, Charles Sprague. 1895. The Silva of North America: A Description of the Trees Which Grow Naturally in North America Exclusive of Mexico. Boston and New York: Houghton, Miflin and Company. Volume Eight (Quercus).
Stein, John D., Binion, Denise, Acciavatti, R. E., United States, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team. 2003. Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America. United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service.
Tallamy, Douglas W. 2021. The Nature of Oaks: The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees. Portalnd, Oregon: Timber Press.
Trelease, William. 1969. The American Oaks. Lehre: J. Cramer.
Young, Peter. 2013. Oak. London: Reaktion.
