The White Oak Tree

The white oak tree (Quercus Robur/Petrea) is a long-lived tree used for shade in landscapes, and it is one of the most widely used timber species in the United States. White Oak tree is native to the Northern Hemisphere, and includes deciduous and evergreen species extending from cool temperate to tropical latitudes in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and North Africa.

The White Oak tree can measure as tall as 150 feet and the average tree of this species grows between 80 and 100 feet high. The trunk’s diameter can exceed 4 feet and the tree takes on a broad round look when mature. On some individual white oak trees, the lower branches become gnarled and grow horizontal to the ground. The bark of a white oak could be ridged with some horizontal breaks.

The bark is a great way to distinguish between a red and white oak. The red oak has a red center, visible between the ridges, while the white oak does not; it remains a white to gray-ashy color. The sapwood of White Oak tree is white to very light brown, while the heartwood is light to dark brown. White oak is mostly straight-grained with a medium-to-coarse texture. White oak tree is a hard and heavy wood with a medium-bending and crushing strength, low in stiffness, but very good in steam-bending. It has great wear-resistance, which makes it an excellent wood flooring material.

The branches of the White Oak tree are alternating, which indicates that the branches are staggered as they grow from the main trunk and do not grow in pairs directly opposite one another. Their twigs are typically smooth with a gray to reddish-brown color.