OAK FAMILY 
WHITE OAR 
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, heavy, 
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 lbs. 
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 aments 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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