(Quercus alba)
The Beech Family (Fagaceae)
Wide-spreading, rounded crown with numerous horizontal branches. Loose shaggy, scaly, gray to whitish bark. Alternately arranged, deeply divided, lobed leaves with upper surface dark green and the lower surface a whitish color, turn red in the fall.
Habitat:
Moist to well drained soils, especially hardwood slope forest.
Interesting Facts:
Native Americans and settlers used acorns to make flour. Important hardwood used for furniture, flooring, wine and whiskey barrels and, in colonial times, for shipbuilding.
Fruit:
Acorn (nut) .5-1.5” long with 1/4 enclosed by cap.
Flower:
Male: yellow-green, on slender catkins, 2-4” long; Female: reddish green, very small single spikes. Both appearing with the leaves in mid-spring.
Wildlife value:
Acorns hoarded by birds and rodents and consumed by many wildlife species. Twigs and foliage browsed by deer.
Fruit
Bark
Leaf type:
Simple
Pollinator:
Wildlife value:
Tree dimensions:
Leaf length: 4.00-8.00 inches
Tree height: 80.00-100.00 feet
PDF link:
Where to find White Oak on the Louisiana State Arboretum Trails:
WAB - Walker Branch Trail 19.0
Refer to our Live Map to locate this species and its interpretative signage on the trail system.