Other possibilities include the blue Japanese oak Quercus glauca, Monterey oak Quercus polymorpha.

Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) is a member of the broad white oak group (white, bur, chinkapin, swamp white, and post oaks). This group is characterized by having rounded lobes on the leaves and acorns which mature in a single growing season and sprout soon after they fall in the autumn.

Habitat: Grows on dry uplands and slopes. Found throughout the state. Fall color is usually chartreuse to yellow brown and ineffective, but leaf drop is usually complete. Even in summer, the bold-textured, foliaged canopy of a mature Bur Oak is an impressive sight. Flower Bur Oak is monoecious, having pendulous pollen-bearing catkins in mid-spring that fertilize the miniature female flowers on the same tree.

The stately bur oak, native to the Midwest, is a great choice as a shade tree and for specimen plantings in parks, spacious yards, and other large areas. Its massive trunk has gray to brown furrowed bark and its branches bear lustrous dark green leaves that turn yellow-brown in fall. Large acorns with fringed caps attract birds and small mammals. Like the leaves, bur oak acorns fall from the tree every year in autumn or winter.

Wildlife appreciate and rely on the bur acorn that is consumed by birds, squirrels and other small mammals. Humans.