White oak (Quercus alba): what the agencies record

This page reports what US federal publications say about one tree. It does not identify trees from descriptions or photos and does not say what should be done with any tree. The family overview, tree species in the agency records, explains the sources and holds the comparison table.

At a glance

Item	What the source records
Scientific name	Quercus alba L., beech family
Other names	Stave oak (Silvics, from its use for barrel staves)
Native status, USDA PLANTS	Native in Canada and in the lower 48 states
Size, Silvics	Often 24 to 30 m (80 to 100 ft) tall and 91 to 122 cm (36 to 48 in) in diameter
Green weight of the wood, NRS-38	63 lb per cubic foot, without bark

Native range

The Silvics of North America handbook (Agriculture Handbook 654, volume 2, 1990) calls white oak widespread across eastern North America and the most important lumber tree of the white oak group. It says the tree grows from southwestern Maine and extreme southern Quebec west to southern Ontario, central Michigan and southeastern Minnesota, south to western Iowa, eastern Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, and east to northern Florida and Georgia. It records the tree as generally absent in the high Appalachians, in the Delta region of the lower Mississippi and in the coastal areas of Texas and Louisiana. The west slopes of the Appalachians and the Ohio and central Mississippi valleys have what the handbook calls optimum conditions, and the largest trees have been found on the Eastern Shore in Delaware and Maryland.

Size, growth and flowers

Silvics describes white oak as a large, long-lived tree. It records individual trees 46 m (150 ft) tall, 244 cm (96 in) in diameter and 600 years old. In the open the handbook says the tree has a short stocky trunk and a wide-spreading rugged crown, while in a forest it develops a tall straight trunk and a compact crown. It says white oak has the reputation of being slow growing: 10-year diameter growth averaged 3.0 cm (1.20 in) for seedlings and saplings, 3.5 cm (1.37 in) for poles and 4.7 cm (1.84 in) for sawtimber in Central States data. It also says most white oaks stand in pure to mixed second-growth stands of sprout origin.

The handbook says white oak flowers in spring, between late March and late May depending on latitude, at about the time the leaves appear. It is monoecious, with yellowish male catkins first and reddish female flowers 5 to 10 days later. Acorns reach maturity about 120 days after pollination, and the handbook adds that more than 180 kinds of birds and mammals use oak acorns as food. It lists the tree as sometimes planted as an ornamental for its broad round crown and purplish-red to violet-purple fall colour, and says it is less favoured than red oak because it is difficult to transplant and slow growing.

Roots

Silvics calls white oak deep rooted from youth to maturity. Seedlings produce a conspicuous taproot that gradually disappears with age and is replaced by a fibrous root system with well-developed laterals. In a study at the Harvard Black Rock Forest in Massachusetts, the deepest root penetration approached 1.2 m (4 ft), and most of the main branches away from the central stem were within 53.3 cm (21 in) of the surface. The handbook says root grafts between neighbouring trees are common, especially under crowded conditions.

Wood

The Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282, 2021) says the sapwood of the white oaks is nearly white and roughly 2 to 5 cm (1 to 2 in) wide, and the heartwood is generally grayish brown. Heartwood pores are usually plugged with tyloses, which make the wood impenetrable to liquids, so most white oaks suit tight cooperage. It describes the wood as somewhat heavier than red oak, with a heartwood that has good decay resistance. Uses it lists include lumber, railroad crossties, cooperage, veneer, fuelwood, planking and bent parts of ships and boats, flooring and furniture.

Wood Handbook figure	Green	At 12% moisture content
Specific gravity (Table 5-3b)	0.60	0.68
Modulus of rupture, lbf per square inch (Table 5-3b)	8,300	15,200
Side hardness, lbf (Table 5-3b)	1,060	1,360
Moisture content of green wood, percent (Table 4-1)	64 heartwood, 78 sapwood	Not applicable

The green weight of the wood is in the NRS-38 table, the same figure used in the log weight calculator.

Pests and diseases the handbook names

Silvics (1990) says several insects attack white oak, are usually not important, but may become epidemic and kill weakened trees. It says decay of heartwood from fire scars causes the most serious white oak losses.

Leaf eaters. The gypsy moth, orangestriped oakworm, variable oakleaf caterpillar, oak leaf tiers and walkingstick. The handbook says trees are frequently killed by an interaction of damaging agents, such as a defoliator followed by a shoestring fungus and the twolined chestnut borer.
Wood and scale insects. Wood borers, which it calls economically the most important because they damage the wood of standing trees; the oak timberworm, which it says makes wood unfit for tight cooperage; and golden oak scale, which it says can seriously damage and even kill the tree, especially with drought.
Acorn insects. Weevils of the genera Curculio and Conotrachelus cause most acorn damage, with the filbertworm and cynipid wasp galls also named.
Oak wilt. Ceratocystis fagacearum, which the handbook calls potentially the most destructive disease of both red and white oaks. It says white oak is less susceptible than the red oaks and may lose only a limb at a time, or may carry the fungus without ever showing symptoms.
Cankers and rots. Perennial cankers from Strumella coryneoides and Nectria galligena, which it names as responsible for most disease losses, Armillaria mellea and Armillaria tabescens root rots, and white root rot from Inonotus dryadeus on weak and suppressed trees.
Foliage. Gnomonia veneta, which causes brown areas on leaves and shoots, and oak leaf blister from Taphrina caerulescens.

The gypsy moth is the same insect as the spongy moth. The guide on spongy moth rules by country sets out what each agency says, and reporting a pest in the United States gives the office that takes sightings of regulated pests. Who may apply pesticides is in pesticide licences by country, and pests and diseases by country sets out which ones agencies regulate.