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Shumard oak

Shumard oak

8.5
A large oak tree from the southern and eastern United States with lobed leaves and large acorns
  • noun
  • /ˈʃuːmɑrd oʊk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : roble Shumard
  • In the park, the tall Shumard oak stands out with its distinctive leaves and abundant acorns.

Examples

  • Other trees that were somewhat unusual for coastal South Carolina were butternut hickory and Shumard oak.

    Academic text (1995)
  • The Shumard oak is a favorite choice for landscaping due to its impressive size and beautiful fall foliage.

  • We plan to plant a Shumard oak in our backyard because it provides excellent shade during the summer months.

Synonyms

Quercus shumardii
vsShumard oak
  • Specialized
9.9

A large red oak tree from the southern and eastern United States with lobed leaves and large acorns

is the everyday common name rather than the Latin form
Shumard red oak
vsShumard oak
  • Specialized
8.4

A large oak tree with deep lobed leaves that turn red in autumn

is the simpler common name without the color descriptor

Surface Forms

Shumard oak singular
Shumard oaks plural

Morphology

Shumard + oak

Although 'Shumard' is a proper name rather than a descriptive word, combining a modifier with 'oak' yields a subtype naming pattern ("X oak" = a kind/kind of oak) that a B1 learner who knows 'oak' can readily interpret. This is a compositional, non-idiomatic taxonomic name and follows common cross-linguistic patterns for naming species, so the meaning is transparent.

Etymology

Shumard oak comes from the name of a 19th-century scientist named Shumard who studied plants. People put his surname before the word oak to show this is a particular kind of oak tree, so the name now means this large, common oak.