The species was identified in an 1860 publication by Samuel Botsford Buckley, the assistant geologist of Texas, and named in honor of Benjamin Franklin Shumard, who studied at Miami University and later served as the State Geologist of Texas.

Typical size varies according to region, with larger specimens occurring in the southern portions of its native range in the United States.

Shumard oak is typically found in lowland areas and is able to survive where the soils experience flooding for six weeks of the year.

[6] The leaves are arranged alternately and are broadly obovate with 5–9 lobes, each of which is terminated by bristle-tipped teeth.

[6] Shumard oaks bear relatively large acorns, which typically reach up to 3 cm (1 in) in diameter.

[6] Shumard oak is native to the Atlantic coastal plain primarily from North Carolina to northern Florida and west to central Texas; it is also found north in the Mississippi River Valley to central Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, Missouri, southern Illinois, Indiana, western and southern Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

[6] The acorns of the Shumard oak provide food for various songbirds, game birds such as wild turkey and quail, waterfowl, white-tailed deer, feral hogs, and various rodents such as squirrels.

With the Shumard Oak's ability to tolerate and thrive in a wide range of soil types, it is cultivated at least as far north as Ottawa, Ontario and southern Quebec, and as far south as Lake Worth Beach, Florida.