Identifying Characteristics
| Size/Form: | White oak is a large tree reaching 80 to 150 feet in height, 3 to 5 feet in diameter. In the forest, it develops a tall, clean, straight trunk with a small crown. Grown in the open, it has shorter bole and a broad, rugged, spreading crown. |
| Leaves: | Leaves are simple, alternate, and deciduous. They are 5 to 9 inches long, 2 to 4 inches wide and deeply 7 to 9 lobed with rounded sinuses nearly reaching the midrib. The apex is usually 3-lobed. The base is wedge-shaped. Margins are entire, sometimes showing a couple of teeth. Leaves are bright green and glabrous above while paler below. The leaf midrib is yellow. Petioles are stout and up to 1 inch in length. In the autumn the leaves turn dull red or orange. |
| Twigs: | The twigs are slender to moderately stout and pale at first, becoming gray with age. The pith is star-shaped and homogeneous. |
| Bark: | The bark is gray-white to gray-brown with shallow grooves and small rectangular scales. The bark becomes deeply grooved at the base of the tree. |
| Flowers: | The white oak is a monoecious species. Male flowers are yellow-green catkins 2 to 4 inches long. Female flowers are reddish-green small spikes that appear with the leaves during mid-spring. |
| Fruit: | The fruit is a ¾ inch yellow to light brown acorn, grown solitary or in pairs, sessile or on short stalks. The thick scaled, warty cup is bowl-shaped. |
| Similar Trees on the Florida 4-H Forest Ecology Contest List: There are three other trees on our list that have simple, alternate, pinnately-lobed leaves. |
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