FAGACEAE - - Beech Family

Quercus alba Linnaeus — White Oak

White Oak (Quercus alba) - Tree becoming 45 m. tall, bark light-gray, sometimes tinged with red or brown, or nearly white, with thin appressed scales; leaf-blades obovate or oval in outline, 10—20 cm. long, bright-green and smooth above, glaucous and finally glabrous beneath, pinnatifid into 3—9, usually 7, ascending narrow usually entire lobes; acorns short-stalked; cup saucer-shaped or shallow-hemispheric, with the scales woody-tuburculate, 15—20 mm. wide; nut ellipsoid-ovoid, 15—25 mm. long. Hybridizes with Q. montana = x Q. beadlei; with Q. stellata = x Q. fernowi.

Habitat:

Mesic to xeric forests. Historically, one of the most valuable timber trees of eastern North America. Q. alba is probably the most abundant native plant in our area, and in eastern North America, based on biomass, leaf area, and ubiquity.

Habitat information from:
Weakley, Alan S., Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States, Working Draft of 21 May 2015.

The range of Quercus alba (White Oak)

Kartesz, J.T., The Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2015. North American Plant Atlas. (http://bonap.net/napa). Chapel Hill, N.C. [maps generated from Kartesz, J.T. 2015. Floristic Synthesis of North America, Version 1.0. Biota of North America Program (BONAP). (in press)].

The Georgia range of Quercus alba (White Oak)

Zomlefer, W.B., J.R. Carter, & D.E. Giannasi. 2014 (and ongoing). The Atlas of Georgia Plants. University of Georgia Herbarium (Athens, Georgia) and Valdosta State University Herbarium (Valdosta, Georgia). Available at: http://www.georgiaherbaria.org/.