White Oak

Attributes:
A majestic tree all year long. In the spring, the new leaves and flowers combine for a pastel tint on the limbs. In the summer, it is a superior shade tree. In the fall, the leaves are rich with color, and the acorns attract an array of wildlife. In the winter, it presents a stately silhouette with light gray platey bark and a wide open crown.The white oak is a tree for large spaces, parks and other recreational areas, golf courses, campuses, cemeteries and other pastoral landscapes. The white oak can live for centuries becoming more picturesque with age.

Wildlife Value:
The acorns are one of the best sources of food for wildlife and are gathered, hoarded, and eaten by birds, hoofed browsers, and rodents. Leaf buds also are eaten by several bird species and all parts of the tree are a favorite deer food.

History/Lore/Use:
A native north American tree with a natural range that extends from southern Quebec, the edge of Ontario, central Minnesota across to Maine, south to east central Texas to southern Georgia and Florida.This is the most important species of the white oak group. It is the state tree of Connecticut, Illinois, and Maryland. Graphic artists use the classic rounded outline of the leaf to symbolize the genus. The logo of the Nature Conservancy consists simply of the silhouette of a white oak leaf. There are a few varient forms of white oak. but no commercial cultivars available yet. White oaks can be hybridized with other oaks, and there are several superior selections of hybrids in the nursery trade. The wood is used for flooring, furniture, interior finishing, cabinetmaking, shipbuilding, wine and whiskey casks.

Moisture:
The white oak grows best in moist, well drained soil. It tolerates moderate drought and occasionally wet soil.

Leaves:
The leaves are alternate, simple, obovate to oblong-obovate, 4-8 1/2" long. red to pink to gray in spring, dark green to slightly blue-green in summer, brown to deep red to burgundy in the fall. Brown interior leaves may persist into early winter.

Flower Color:
Female pistallate flowers are reddish, minute, single or paired on short stalks, male staminate flowers are yellow green in drooping clustered catkins, not showy in the spring.

Fruit Description:
Solitary or paired, tan brown, 3/4"-1" nut enclosed in a light brown, bowl-like cap (involucre). The involucre has raised warty scales. The acorns ripen the first year falling in September to October.