Quercus acerifolia

Maple-leaved oak is in the red oak group (Lobatae) in the beech or Fagaceae family, and is a rare oak endemic to the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas in the south-central USA. It can reach more than 16 m in height.

• Leaves are alternate, simple, up to 6–12 cm long and 10–14 cm wide, technically pinnately 5-lobed but with the two middle lobes larger than the other three, lobes being deeply cut and spiny-tipped, leaf shape slightly resembling leaves of sugar maple (Acer saccharum). They are green at first, but by October they start to turn red, to rich maroon-red by early November, then brown, hanging on the tree until the new year.
• Species is monoecious. Males are drooping catkins and females are inconspicuous small flowers.
• Twigs are reddish-brown; terminal buds are slightly pointed and are in clusters at the tips of branches.
• Fruit is an acorn up to 2.1 cm long, the cap covering 1/3rd of the nut, maturing in 2 years.