White oak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the tree. For places named "White Oak", see White Oak.
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| Quercus alba L. |
The White Oak (Quercus alba) is a species of oak in the white oak group Quercus sect. Quercus. It is native to eastern North America, from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas.
Normally not a very tall tree, typically 20-25 m tall at maturity, it nonetheless becomes quite massive and its lower branches are apt to reach far out laterally parallel to the ground. The tallest known white oak is 44 m tall. It is not unusual for a white oak tree to be as wide as it is tall. Conversely, specimens at high altitude may only be small shrubs. White oaks been known to live over five hundred years. The bark is a light ash-gray and somewhat peeling, variously from the top, bottom and/or sides.
The leaves grow to 12.5-22.5 cm long and 7-11 cm broad, with a deep glossy green upper surface turning reddish brown in autumn; some brown leaves may remain on the tree throughout winter until very early spring. They are variably lobed; sometimes the lobes are shallow, extending less than half-way to the midrib, but sometimes they are deeply lobed, with the lobes somewhat branching. The acorns are usually sessile, and grow to 12-25 mm long, falling in early October.
[edit] Ecology
The White oak is fairly tolerant of a variety of habitats, and may be found on ridges, in valleys, and in between, and in dry and moist habitats, and in moderately acid and alkaline soils. It is mainly a lowland tree, but reaches altitudes of 1,600 m in the Appalachian Mountains.
The acorns are much less bitter than the acorns of red oaks. They are small relative to most oaks, but are a valuable wildlife food, notably for turkeys, wood ducks, pheasants, grackles, jays, nuthatches, thrushes, woodpeckers, rabbits, squirrels and deer. They were also used by Native Americans as a food.
[edit] Uses and symbolism
Its wood is the best and most valuable of the white oaks, although wood of most of the other white oaks may be marketed with it.
The White Oak makes an outstanding shade tree, with an exceptionally wide spread and almost never dropping limbs. However, it does not tolerate urban conditions well, due to an intolerance of soil compaction and changes in soil levels. It may thrive in residential neighborhoods where protected from such change.
It is sometimes confused with the Swamp white oak, a closely-related species, and the Bur oak.
White Oak has served as the official state tree of Illinois since being selected by a vote of school children. There are two "official" White Oaks serving as state trees, one located on the grounds of the governor's mansion, and the other in a schoolyard in the town of Rochelle. The white oak is also the state tree of Connecticut and Maryland. The Wye Oak, probably the oldest living white oak until it was felled by a thunderstorm on June 6, 2002, was the honorary state tree of Maryland.
One of the most famous White Oaks in America is the Charter Oak of Hartford, Connecticut, the subject of a legend nearly as old as the colony itself. The tree now makes up the reverse side of the Connecticut state quarter.
Japanese white oak, or kashi, is the traditional wood used in the Japanese martial arts for training weapons, such as bokken and jo. It is valued for its density, strength, and relatively low chance of dangerous splintering if broken by an impact, relative to the substantially cheaper red oak.
 Tender spring white oak leaves are pink. |
 Bark on a large trunk. |
