Compare
Gallery
Common name: White oak
| |
Plant List Compare |
Fact Sheet Gallery |
Latin name: Quercus
alba Common name: White oak |
The
White oak has been the state tree of Illinois since
1973. The pictures on the left show the winter
and summer habit of a Quercus alba located by Parking
20. 
In this picture, which is the same tree as the pictures
above, the White oak appears to have a lot of white
flowers, but that would be strange since the White
oak DOESN'T have white flowers. Look at the photo below
to solve the mystery.
The white objects on the tree are actually newly emerged
leaves. Flowers are present in the spring. In this
photo of a white oak you can see the male flowers which
are green, drooping catkins. 
Pictures
of White oak taken on April 13, 2004 and April 21, 2004.
These pictures are of the same branch. The White Oak is monoecious with
pendulous male catkins that emerge at the same time as the leaves. There are
also small female flowers on each tree, but I do not seem to have any
photographs of female flowers.
Leaves
are deeply lobed and dark and glossy in appearance.
The fall colors of the Quercus alba can have stunning,
with leaves turning orange and red. They will eventually
turn brown and may remain on the tree all winter. 
The
acorns appear above the leaves and may be in rather
large clusters. Acorns
of the White oak require only 1 season to mature. In mid July, the caps cover
nearly the entire acorn. My mid August, the cap covers less than half of the
acorn. By early October, most of the acorns will be on the ground. In most
cases, the cap will have separated from the rest of acorn, but in cases where
they are still together, the cap will cover 1/3 or less of the acorn. | Kingdom Plantae -- Plants | |||||||||
| Subkingdom Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants | |||||||||
| Superdivision Spermatophyta -- Seed plants | |||||||||
| Division Magnoliophyta -- Flowering plants | |||||||||
| Class Magnoliopsida -- Dicotyledons | |||||||||
| Subclass Hamamelidae | |||||||||
| Order Fagales | |||||||||
| Family Fagaceae -- Beech family | |||||||||
| Genus Quercus L. -- oak P | |||||||||
| Species Quercus alba L. -- white oak P | |||||||||
Source for classification listing: USDA, NRCS. 2004. The PLANTS Database, Version 3.5 (http://plants.usda.gov). National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70874-4490 USA.
Karren J. Wcisel © copyright 1999 - 2005
Send email to Karrenw@aol.com