On 
ridges of the bark very firm, the wood of such trees is usually con- 
sidered much tougher than those with a more flaky bark; twigs at 
first green, often tinged with red, hairy, becoming reddish-brown, 
smooth and glossy, covered with a glaucous bloom, finally becom- 
ing an ash gray; winter buds broadly ovate, blunt, reddish-brown, 
smooth, about 2 mm. (1/10 inch) long; leaves mostly obovate in 
outline, varying to oblong, 1-2 dm. (4-8 inches) long, with yellow 
midrib and prominent lateral veins, the margin very variable, usu- 
ally with 7 lobes, sometimes with 3-9, lobes ascending, usually blunt 
and entire, sometimes with 1 or 2 secondary lobes, sinuses of the 
lobes rounded at the base, blades wedge-shaped at base, acute to 
rounded at the apex, reddish when they unfold, pubescent, becom- 
ing a bright green above, paler or glaucous beneath, smooth both 
above and below; flowers appear in May when the leaves are about 
one fourth grown; acorns sessile or sometimes stalked; nut ovoid 
to oblong, inclosed from 14 to 1/3 of its length in the cup-shaped 
cup, 1.5-2 em. (about 1 inch) across; scales of cup obtuse and 
woolly. 
Distribution. Southern Maine, Ontario westward to Minnesota 
and southward to Florida and Texas. Found in all the wooded 
parts of Indiana. 
The white oak is one of the largest trees that grows in the State. 
It is adapted to several kinds of soil and is frequent to very com- 
mon in all situations in Indiana, except in low and poorly drained 
soil. It attains its greatest size in rich, moist and well-drained low- 
lands. In point of number it ranks second among Indiana trees. 
In the north-central part of the State it forms the principal stand 
on the clay ridges, which are popularly known as ‘“‘white oak”’ 
ridges. The soil of these ridges is the poorest of the locality, except 
where there are black oak (Quercus velutina) ridges. In the north- 
ern counties where the ridges are composed of more sand and gravel, 
they are more frequently covered with a mixture of white and black 
oaks and about an equal number covered with a pure stand of each 
species. In the vicinity of Lake Michigan the white oak is rarer 
and the black oak is the prevailing species. In the central part of 
the State the white oak is frequent in moist rich woods where beech 
and maple are not the principal stand. In the southern counties 
it is frequently found in pure stands on the hills and slopes, and is 
more or less frequent on the lower slopes of all the hills. In this 
section the hills usually have white oak, black oak, beech, or maple 
for the principal stand. In the southwestern counties it is frequent 
in moist, rich and well-drained soil. 
