WHITE OAK 



(Quercus Alba) 



OAKS belong to the beech family, that is, the "foodtrees,"* though 

 most acorns are too bitter and contain too much tannin to be 

 edible ; some may be eaten, and for that reason the ancients classed them 

 among the food trees. "Quercus," which is the name of the genus, 

 means oak in the language of northwestern Europe. The name white 

 oak nearly always suffices, but in Arkansas it is often called stave oak 

 because it is the best stave timber in that region. It could with equal 

 reason be called stave oak nearly anywhere, for it is excellent material 

 for tight cooperage. Formerly it was sometimes called Baltimore oak, 

 because many of the staves of export were shipped from that city. That 

 name, however, belonged more to post oak (Quercus minor) than to 

 white oak, because the fine staves which went out of Chesapeake bay in 

 the export trade, were largely post oak. It matters little now, for the 

 name Baltimore oak is not much used, and white oak may be said to 

 have only one trade name. After the wood is dressed, it has different 

 names referring to the style of finish and not to the wood itself. 



White oak grows in all the states east of the Mississippi river, and 

 it crosses that stream two or three hundred miles in some places. It 



*The oaks of this country, which number more than fifty species, have been 

 classified in different ways, depending upon the purpose in view. In the present 

 treatment they will be divided in two general groups, white oaks and black oaks. No 

 effort will be made to draw hard and fast lines, because it is not necessary. Oaks 

 which ripen their acorns in one year are listed as white oaks; those with two year 

 acorns, as black oaks. This is a botanical rather than a lumberman's classification; 

 yet lumbermen recognize it in a general way. White oak (Quercus alba) is clearly 

 entitled to head the list of white oaks, and red oak (Quercus rubra) should occupy a 

 similar position with regard to the black oak group. In numbers, the white oaks and 

 black oaks are nearly equally divided, one authority giving twenty-seven species of 

 white oak and twenty-five of black oak in the United States; but botanists differ as to 

 exact numbers of each. The following species are usually classed as white oaks: 

 White oak (Quercus alba), valley oak (Quercus lobata), Brewer oak (Quercus brewerf), 

 Sadler oak (Quercus sadleri), Pacific post oak (Quercus garryana), Gambel oak 

 (Quercus gambelii), post oak (Quercus minor'), Chapman oak (Quercus chapmani), bur 

 oak (Quercus macrocarpa) overcup oak (Quercus lyrata), swamp white oak (Quercus 

 platanoides) , cow oak (Quercus michauxii), chestnut oak (Quercus prinus), chinquapin 

 oak (Quercus acuminaia), dwarf chinquapin oak (Quercus prinoides), Durand oak 

 (Quercus breviloba), Rocky Mountain oak (Quercus undulata), California blue oak 

 (Quercus douglasii), Engelmann oak (Quercus engelmanni). Rocky Mountain blue oak 

 (Quercus oblongifolia), Arizona white oak (Quercus arizonica), Tourney oak (Quercus 

 toumeyi), netleaf oak (Quercus reticulate), California scrub oak (Quercus dumosa), 

 live oak (Quercus virginiana), Emory oak (Quercus emoryi). 



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