OAK FAMILY 



WHITE OAK 



Quercus alba. 

 Alba, white, referring to the pale tint of the bark. 



Common ; grows to the height of eighty or one hundred feet with 

 a trunk three or four feet in diameter. Is tolerant of many soils, 

 often forms the principal tree of large tracts. Reaches its greatest 

 size in the valley of the lower Ohio. Is difficult to transplant and is 

 best grown from seed planted where the tree is to remain. Grows 

 rapidly. 



Bark. Light gray, varying to dark gray and to white ; shallow 

 fissured and scaly. Branchlets at first bright green, later reddish- 

 green and finally light gray. 



Wood. Light brown with paler sapwood ; strong, tough, hairy, 

 fine-grained, durable and beautiful. Used for construction, ship- 

 building, cooperage, agricultural implements, cabinet-making, in- 

 terior finish of houses. Sp. gr., 0.7470 ; weight of cu. ft., 46.35 Ibs. 



Winter Buds. Reddish brown, obtuse, one-eighth of an inch 

 long. 



Leaves. Alternate, five to nine inches long, three to four inches 

 wide. Obovate or oblong, seven to nine-lobed, usually seven-lobed 

 with rounded lobes and rounded sinuses ; lobes destitute of bristles ; 

 sinuses sometimes deep, sometimes shallow. On young trees the 

 leaves are often repand. They come out of the bud conduplicate, 

 bright red above, pale below and covered with white tomentum ; 

 the red fades quickly and they become silvery greenish white and 

 shining; when full grown are thin, bright yellow green, shining or 

 dull above, pale, glaucous or smooth below ; midrib stout, yellow, 

 primary veins conspicuous. In late autumn they turn a deep red 

 and drop, or on young trees remain on the branches throughout the 

 winter. Petioles short, stout, grooved, and flattened. Stipules 

 linear, caducous. 



Flowers. May, when leaves are one-third grown. Staminate 

 flowers borne in hairy amer.ts two and a half to three inches long ; 

 calyx bright yellow, hairy, six to eight-lobed, lobes shorter than the 

 stamens ; anthers yellow. Pistillate flowers borne on short pedun- 

 cles ; involucral scales hairy, reddish ; calyx lobes acute ; stigmas 

 bright red. 



Acorns. Annual, sessile or stalked ; nut ovoid or oblong, round 

 at the apex, light brown, shining, three-quarters to an inch long ; 

 cup cup-shaped, encloses about one-fourth of the nut, tomentose on 

 the outside, tuberculate at base, scales with short obtuse tips becom- 

 ing smaller and thinner toward the rim. 



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