This occurs mostly east of the Mississippi Rv. (except for the Mo. Ozarks), centered in Appalachian regions but extending into other regions with dry acid soils, including some loess hills along the river (K). In Ky. it has sometimes been confused with shumardii, leading to spurious reports from calcareous regions. But records from BRAC (EKY), CAMP (JC for KY) and OLDH (DHL) are confirmed, coming from very small populations on old high terraces or acid shales peripheral to the Bluegrass region. Introgressve hybridization with rubra and perhaps shumardii has been suggested in Ky. (CW), and hybrids with several other species are possible (FNA 3). However, there is little definitive evidence of hybridization in Ky. Compared to rubra, shumardii and palustris, both coccinea and velutina have relatively deep acorn cups (covering 1/3-1/2), pubescent to tomentose 4-or 5-angled buds, and generally blackish blocky bark (J). Q. coccinea is the only oak that usually has 1-3 concentric rings around acorn apices, although sometimes faint to absent. Its buds are "usually silvery- or tawny-pubescent distal to middle" (FNA 3). See further notes under velutina on differences from that species. Curiously, there are no reports here of hybrids with velutina, which appears to be the closest relative of coccinea in Ky. (F, M). Yet, in the upper midwest, Q. ellipsoidalis E.J. Hill may have originated from hybridization and introgression involving coccinea and velutina (Owuso et al. 2015). Along western range margins, atypical plants can be expected in disjunct populations (St). At Hancock Biological Station (CALL), some trees with unusually small acorns (ca. 1 cm long) and leaf blades (ca. 10 cm long) have often been misidentified as shumardii.