Cooperative Living June 2021 - 33

BranchingOut | by Steve Carroll, Contributing Columnist
White Oak:
Virginia's Finest Tree?
A majestic spread characterizes this beauty
I
f you close your eyes and imagine a quintessential
oak leaf, chances are good you are picturing a leaf of
a white oak. These are typically 4 to 8 inches long and
2 to 4 inches wide. They have seven to 10 rounded lobes
with smooth, untoothed margins. Their acorns are
approximately three-quarters to 1-inch long, with a
bumpy, bowl-shaped cap.
Botanists divide oaks into two main groups, white oaks
and red oaks. The " Flora of Virginia " includes 11 species in
the white oak group, including bur, post and live
oaks. Species in this group lack bristles on the tips
of leaf lobes and produce acorns that mature in
their first season and germinate in the fall.
In the red oak group (16 species in the " Flora, "
including red, pin and black oaks), trees do have
bristles at the tips of leaf lobes and acorns that
mature and germinate in their second year. Oaks
are in the beech family, which includes beeches
and chestnuts.
Oaks, which are wind-pollinated, formmale and female
flowers on the same tree. Flowers typically open as the
leaves expand in spring. The male flower clusters (catkins)
hang from branches and contribute to the rain of pollen that
accumulates on our windshields and sidewalks in the spring.
WHITE OAK CHARACTERISTICS
White oak prefers dry to moist sites and full sun to
partial shade. Once established, they tolerate drought, but
not flooding or root compaction.
Under ideal conditions they can live 400 to 500 years
or more and can reach 80 to 100 feet tall, with even wider
crowns. The national champion white oak, which towers
over a home in Brunswick, Va, has a height and crown
spread of 90 feet and 120 feet, respectively.
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White oaks are an impressive, striking tree. If opengrown,
they can formmassive, spreading branches close to
the ground that seem to defy gravity. What white oaks lack
is spectacular fall color. Leaves may show some orange or
red before turning brown, with some dead leaves typically
persisting on the tree through winter.
One can hardly overstate the importance of oaks in our
forests. More species of butterflies and moth caterpillars
eat the leaves than any other group of trees. Deer, bears,
squirrels, turkeys and a long list of other mammals
and birds eat the acorns.
USE OF WHITE OAK
Oaks have been affected by logging, agriculture,
our growing deer population and other factors.
But they are still an important part of Virginia's
forests, with white oak likely being the most
common and widespread of the genus.
White oaks' heavy, strong, straight-grained wood is used
in flooring, water-tight barrels, lumber, furniture, and as
fuel for wood-burning stoves. In earlier times, it was widely
used in shipbuilding for timbers, hulls and decks.
White oak makes a wonderful specimen and shade tree,
but don't transplant it once established due to development
of a taproot. If you plant a white oak, be sure to give it
plenty of room to grow. Those in following generations
will thank you.
In " Remarkable Trees of Virginia, " an arborist states,
" White oaks are Virginia's finest tree, period. " 
Steve Carroll is a botanist and ecologist who speaks and writes
about trees, gardening and the world of plants. He is the co-author
of " Ecologyfor Gardeners, " published by Timber Press.
June 2021 | Cooperative Living | 31
PHOTO COURTESY
BRUCE KIRCHOFF VIA FLICKR
PHOTO COURTESY NICHOLAS A. TONELLI VIA FLICKR
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living June 2021

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