Plantae > Tracheophyta > Magnoliopsida > Fagales > Fagaceae > Quercus > Quercus alba

Quercus alba (White Oak)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern and central North America. It is a long-lived oak, native to eastern and central North America and found from Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia south as far as northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been documented to be over 450 years old.
View Wikipedia Record: Quercus alba

Infraspecies

Quercus alba var. alba
Quercus alba var. frutscens

Attributes

Air Quality Improvement [1]  None
Allergen Potential [1]  Medium-High
Carbon Capture [1]  Medium-High
Screening - Summer [2]  Dense
Screening - Winter [2]  Porous
Shade Percentage [1]  79 %
Temperature Reduction [1]  Medium-Low
Wind Reduction [1]  Medium-Low
Bloom Period [2]  Mid Spring
Drought Tolerance [2]  Medium
Edible [3]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Fire Tolerance [2]  Medium
Flower Type [3]  Monoecious
Frost Free Days [2]  4 months 25 days
Fruit/Seed Abundance [2]  High
Fruit/Seed Begin [2]  Summer
Fruit/Seed End [2]  Fall
Growth Form [2]  Single Stem
Growth Period [2]  Spring, Summer
Growth Rate [2]  Slow
Janka Hardness [4]  1360 lbf (617 kgf) Medium
Leaf Type [3]  Deciduous
Lifespan [2]  Perennial
Pollinators [3]  Wind
Propagation [2]  Bare Root, Container, Seed
Root Depth [2]  4.002 feet (122 cm)
Seed Spread Rate [2]  Slow
Seed Vigor [2]  High
Seeds Per [2]  128 / lb (282 / kg)
Shape/Orientation [2]  Erect
Specific Gravity [5]  0.68
Structure [3]  Tree
Usage [3]  A mulch of the leaves repels slugs, grubs etc, though fresh leaves should not be used as these can inhibit plant growth. The bark is a rich source of tannin; Oak galls are excrescences that are sometimes produced in great numbers on the tree and are caused by the activity of the larvae of different insects. The insects live inside these galls, obtaining their nutrient therein. When the insect pupates and leaves, the gall can be used as a rich source of tannin, that can also be used as a dyestuff; A brown dye is obtained from the bark or from the galls, it does not require a mordant; Yellow, chrome and gold can also be obtained if mordants are used; Wood - strong, very heavy, hard, tough, close grained, durable; It weighs about 46lb per cubic foot; One of the most important timbers in N. America, it is used for cabinet making, construction, agricultural tools etc, and is also a good fuel; Highly valued for making the staves of barrels for storing wine and liquor;
Vegetative Spread Rate [2]  None
Flower Color [2]  Yellow
Foliage Color [2]  Green
Fruit Color [2]  Brown
Fall Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Fruit Conspicuous [2]  Yes
Height [3]  66 feet (20 m)
Width [3]  33 feet (10 m)
Hardiness Zone Minimum [1]  USDA Zone: 4 Low Temperature: -30 F° (-34.4 C°) → -20 F° (-28.9 C°)
Hardiness Zone Maximum [1]  USDA Zone: 9 Low Temperature: 20 F° (-6.7 C°) → 30 F° (-1.1 C°)
Light Preference [2]  Mixed Sun/Shade
Soil Acidity [2]  Moderate Acid
Soil Fertility [2]  Infertile
Water Use [1]  Moderate to Low
View Plants For A Future Record : Quercus alba

Protected Areas

Ecosystems

Emblem of

Connecticut
Illinois
Maryland

Predators

Consumers

Range Map

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1i-Tree Species v. 4.0, developed by the USDA Forest Service's Northern Research Station and SUNY-ESF using the Horticopia, Inc. plant database.
♦ 2USDA Plants Database, U. S. Department of Agriculture
♦ 3Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 4Wood Janka Hardness Scale/Chart J W Morlan's Unique Wood Gifts
♦ 5Forest Inventory and Analysis DB version 5.1, May 4, 2013, U.S. Forest Service
♦ 6HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants Gaden S. Robinson, Phillip R. Ackery, Ian J. Kitching, George W. Beccaloni AND Luis M. Hernández
♦ 7Ben-Dov, Y., Miller, D.R. & Gibson, G.A.P. ScaleNet 4 November 2009
♦ 8Study of Northern Virginia Ecology
♦ 9Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0