The Forestry Forum

Hi, I could really use some help with differentiating a cherrybark oak and a black oak. See, Im on the forestry team for my high school and my specific competition is tree id. I'm really good at it but I keep on missing these same ones over and over again at each competition. I was wondering if you guys could give some tips on how to tell them apart.

Welcome to the forum LurdesO, I can't help any but trust me someone here will!  Where are you from?

Thanks! And I'm from South Georgia.

Black oak has hairs on the back of the leaf. Scrape the bark back and it's orangish color. I haven't been around cherrybark enough to have first hand experience with it.  Good luck.

First, cherrybark oak and black oak sun leaves look very very similar.  However, there is one critical difference.  On black oak, the color of the leaf is the same shade of green on the top of the leaf and the bottom of the leaf.  Not so on cherrybark.  The leaf is two toned.  Top side is a dark green and the underside has a tawny, greenish brown color.  This color difference is an immediate dead give-away. 

Check out theses old posts.  Hopefully, they will help.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,25171.0.html

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,25550.0.html

BTW, I was a Judge for the FFA Tree ID Contest in Georgia for many years.