Hydrangea quercifoli, commonly known as oakleaf hydrangea, is a flowering plant of the Hydrangraceae family. It is a vase-shaped, deciduous shrub with showy flower heads. It grows to 3-12 feet or 0.91-3.66 meters tall with an open crown. Young stems are covered in a felt-like brown bark and larger stems have a cinnamon-tan bark that shreds and peels in thin flakes. The leaves are yellowish green to dark green on top and silvery-white on the bottom. Plants in shade have larger leaves than those grown in sun. The leaves turn shades of red, purple, and bronze in autumn. H. quercifoli flowers age in color. They age from creamy-white to pink to a dry, papery, rusty-brown in the autumn and winter. H. quercifoli is native to the southeastern United States. More specifically, it is native to woodland habitats from North Carolina west to Tennessee, and south to Florida and Louisiana. It grows in mixed hardwood forests, along streams, and on forested hillsides. H. quercifoli usually grows on calcareous soils, and often where limestone is at the ground surface. H. quercifoli is an undershrub, and often grows in the shade of trees such as large oaks and magnolias.
