Quercus alba

COMMON NAME: White Oak

FAMILY: Beech Family; Fagaceae (White Oak Group)

GROWTH HABIT: Medium- large sized tree, 50 - 80 ft in spead and can grown well over 100 ft in the wild. Puramidal when young, upright-rounded to broad-rounded with wide-spreading branches at maturity.

FOLIAGE: Alternate, simple 4 - 8 1/2 in long, about one-half as wide, obovate to oblong-obovate, narrowed at base. Entire lobes, dark green above, pale or blaucous beneath, petiole 1/2 - 1 in long, yellowish green.

BUDS: Broadly ovate, blunt, reddish brown to brown in color, 1/8 to 1/4 in long, sometimes slightly hairy especially at end of bud scales.

BARK: Old trunk, light ashy-gray, variable in appearance, often broken into small, verticallky arranged blocks, scaly on the surface: later irregularly plated or deeply fissured, with narrow ridges, sometimes rather smooth and gray in spots; this is caused by a fungus.

FLOWERS: Borne separately on the same tree; the male in catkins, the female in short spikes.

FRUIT: An acorn, sessile or short stalked, 1/2 - 3/4 in long, ovoid-oblong, enclosed for 1/4 of its length in a light chestnut-brown, bowl-like cup that is covered with warty scales; kernel sweet.

NATURAL HISTORY: Found mostly in deep, rich moist soils, such as higher bottom lands.

NATIVE HABITAT: From southern Maine to southern Minnesota, south to Eastern Texas and northern Florida.