White Oak 



343 



and smooth beneath, the midrib stout and bright yellow, the venation prominent; 

 they turn deep red before falling in late autumn; the leaf-stalk is stout, flattened 

 and grooved above, i to 2 cm. long. The flowers appear when the leaves are 

 about one third unfolded, the staminate cat- 

 kins 5 to 7 cm. long; calyx bright yellow and 

 hair}'; stamens slightly exserted; anthers 

 broadly oblong and notched. The pistillate 

 flowers are short- or long-stalked; involu- 

 cral scales broadly ovate; calyx-lobes ovate, 

 sharp-pointed and hairy; styles very short, 

 spreading and red. The fruit ripens in the 

 early autumn of the first season, is sessile or 

 sometimes stalked, light brown and shining; 

 seed rather sweet; cup saucer-shaped or 

 shallowly hemispheric, 1.5 to 2 cm. across, 

 embracing one fourth to one third of the 

 nut, covered by thickened or tuberculate 

 woolly scales, those near the top of the cup 

 thinner. 



The wood is hard, strong and tough, close-grained and light brown; its specific 

 gravity is about 0.75. It is one of the most important of American timbers, being 

 largely used in general construction, interior finishing and for furniture, cooper- 

 age, carriages and agricultural implements, railroad ties, split baskets, and is pre- 

 ferred over many other woods for fuel. 



Probable hybrids have been attributed to this species with the Rock chestnut 

 oak, Q. Prinus Linnaeus, from three or four widely separated stations; with the 

 Bur oak, Q. macrocarpa Michaux, from Vermont and Ilhnois, with the Post oak, 

 Q. ^/f/Za/a Wangenheim, from the District of Columbia, Illinois, and Missouri, with 

 the Yellow chestnut oak, Q. Muhlenbergii Engelmann, in Missouri; with the 

 Cow oak, Q. Michauxii Nuttall, from North Carolina. 



Fig. 301. White Oak. 



