Quercus rubra Aurea in Belfast Botanic Gardens

This is one of a series of short articles about trees in the Belfast Botanic Gardens compiled by the Friends group. The tree tag number relates to the BCC black tree maintenance tags, usually fixed on the tree trunk, 2 to 3m above ground level.

Family: Fagaceae

The Golden red oak is a very rare variant of the Eastern North American red oak. Belfast Botanic Gardens has a fine young specimen at the end of the main lawn closest to the Palm House. In the spring it is a dazzling gold when it catches the early morning sun. Later in the summer the gold fades to a yellowish green. This young tree is starting to produce acorns in the rather flattened cups characteristic of red oak. Red oak acorns take two years to mature, remaining minute on the tree in the first year.

The golden red oak is one of a number of fine oak specimens in the tree collection of Belfast Botanic Gardens.

Photos taken in Belfast Botanic Gardens in 2009. Copyright: Friends of Belfast Botanic Gardens.

Click here to view the rest of the tree archive


Golden red oak in Belfast Botanic Gardens, spring	Golden red oak in Belfast Botanic Gardens, summer

Golden red oak, spring foliage	Golden red oak, acorn, late summer

Belfast Botanic Gardens Tree Archive