Quercus coccinea, the scarlet oak, is an oak in the red oak section Quercus sect. Lobatae. The scarlet oak can be mistaken for the pin oak, the black oak, or occasionally the red oak. On scarlet oak the sinuses between lobes are 'C'-shaped in comparison to pin oak (Q. palustris), which has 'U'-shaped sinuses and the acorns are half covered by a deep cap.Scarlet oak is mainly native to the central and eastern United States, from southern Maine west to Wisconsin, Michigan and Missouri, and south as ...