White oak

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White oak leaf

White oak

White oak

White oak buds

White oak acorns

White oak staminate flowers

White oak leaf

White oak acorns

White oak bark

Morphology

Trunk

Massive, diameter 12-40 inches, long and straight in wooded areas, often short in open areas; crown broad, open, rounded; bark thick, light gray, furrows shallow, ridges flat, blocky; branches large, stout, horizontal, often gnarled.

Twigs

Rigid, initially green and hairy, becoming reddish-brown and nearly glabrous in first winter, later grayish-brown; lenticels (air pores) conspicuous, light; leaf scars half-round to crescent-shaped, elevated; bundle scars 10 or more, scattered or somewhat in ellipse; buds clustered at tip, broadly egg-shaped, 1/8 to 1/4 inch long, blunt to rounded; scales reddish-brown, glabrous or pubescent.

Leaves

Alternate, simple, deciduous, egg-shaped to oblong outline, 3.1 to 9.2 inches long, 3.2 to 5.2 inches wide, widest toward outer end, thin, firm, leathery; lobes 5-9, often narrow, pointing outward and toward leaf apex, middle lateral lobes usually longest; sinus depth varies, but often extending to near midrib; lobe tips rounded; upper surface gray-green, glabrous, dull or glossy; lower surface paler, waxy, glabrous but often pubescent along midrib; base narrowly wedge-shaped to pointed; stalk stout, 1/5 to 1 inch long, grooved, flattened, glabrous or pubescent; stipules linear, 1/4 to 2/5 inch long, early deciduous; young leaves pubescent; leaves often persist on tree through winter.

Flowers

With the leaves; monoecious; staminate catkins 2.4 to 4 inches long, loosely-flowered; flowers sessile; calyx greenish-brown, pubescent; stamens 5-7; anthers yellow; pistillate flowers usually in pairs at base of leaves near end of new growth, sessile or short-stalked; calyx bell-shaped, pubescent; ovary spherical, 1/10 to 1/8 inch in diameter, covered with greenish scales; stigma short, 3-lobed, reddish-brown.

Fruit

Autumn of first season; acorns 1-3, vary in shape; sessile or short-stalked; cup hemispheric, 1/3 to 1/2 inch high, 3/4 to 4/5 inch wide, warty, enclosing 1/4 to 1/3 of nut; scales closely appressed, finely gray-pubescent, swollen at base, tips pointed; inside of cup brown woolly; nut oblong egg-shaped, .5 to 1.2 inch long, .4 to .8 inch wide, glabrous, light brown; base broad, nearly flat; kernel edible, sweet.

Ecology

Habitat

Moist to dry deciduous woods, along lowland streams; well-drained loam and non-calcareous soils.

Distribution

East 1/5 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Native Americans used the nuts for food, wrapped the leaves around dough when making bread, and used the wood to make baskets and construct wigwams. They chewed the bark for mouth sores and steeped the bark, gargling with the liquid for sore throats and using it as a wash for chills and fevers, sore, chapped skin, and as a liniment for muscle pain in humans and horses. An infusion of bark was taken for coughs and asthma and the bark was used in treatments of dysentery and diarrhea. Squirrels and small mammals eat the nuts. The wood was used for ship building, railroad ties, and wagon spokes and rims. It is still used for lumber, interior finishes, and furniture.

Additional Notes