The black oak or eastern black oak (Quercus velutina) is a tree of roughly 80 feetin height with an open, spreading crown.It has typical oak-shaped leaves with 5- to 7-inch toothed lobes separated by U-shaped notches between the lobes. The leaves vary in size depending onlocation:larger belowand smaller on the sun-exposed upper branches. In general, the leaves are a glossy dark green on topand slightly orange-tinged beneath. Twig buds are velvety with white hairs. Bark of mature trees is characteristically dark, grayish and broken horizontally into irregular rectangular blocks. The bark contains a unique yellow pigment which was previously used as a dye for cloth. Acorns havea large cap that covers over half of the seed. The black oak is native to North America and sheds its leaves in autumn.