White Oak Tree (Quercus Alba) – 3 Pack Of 1.5 Quart Pots

Other Common Names: American White Oak, Eastern White Oak, Forked-leaf White Oak, Northern White Oak, Quebec Oak

A magnificent North American Native tree, and the state tree of Illinois, the White Oak, Quercus alba, is among the largest of forest trees in the country. A noted specimen in Basking Ridge, NJ, named the ‘Great White Oak’, was estimated to have been over 600 years old when it died in 2016. At that time the tree’s trunk measured 16 feet in circumference at 4 feet above the ground and was 75 ft tall and 125 feet wide from tip to tip. Though it might reach this size in an open field, in the average landscape setting the size might be more at half to two-thirds that size. Its large and attractive green leaves have between 7 and 9 lobes which are rounded rather than pointed. Leaf color in fall can vary ranging from attractive shades of golden-yellow to orange-bronze or deep red to reddish-bronze. A standard crop of acorns are produced every year with a super-heavy yield every few years, which the squirrels, deer and other mammals will certainly appreciate. The nuts of white oaks are lower in tannin so are easier to process for human consumption. In the landscape or on the farm, the White Oak makes for an excellent specimen shade tree, grouping, or grove that will be around for centuries to come to be enjoyed by folks and wildlife.

The wildlife benefits of the White Oak are numerous. Oak trees support a wide variety of Lepidopteran. You may see moths and butterflies such as Imperial Moth, Banded Hairstreak, Edward’s Hairstreak, Gray Hairstreak, White-M Hairstreak, Horace’s Duskywing and Juvenal’s Duskywing. The Acorns are eaten by woodpeckers, blue jays, small mammals, wild turkeys, white-tailed deer, and black bear.

Note: Unprocessed, raw acorns can be potentially toxic due to the high tannin content. However, acorns are worth the processing steps, as they are a low-calorie tasty food.