Click on the images help you identify a white oak.
Form
Height is 60 to 80 feet with a diameter of 24 to 36 inches, although it can grow larger. In forest conditions, white oaks grow tall and narrow-crowned. In open conditions they are shorter and crowned by a broad, rounded top with limbs spreading irregularly. Well-grown specimens are strikingly beautiful.
Bark
Pale gray with scaly ridges and shallow fissures. Thinner than bur oak bark.
Leaf
Simple, alternate on stem. Length is 5 to 9 inches and about half as broad. Leaves crowd toward ends of twigs. Leaves are deeply divided into five to nine fingerlike lobes. Young leaves are yellow or red while unfolding, later becoming light green above and much paler below. Leaf color turns dark red or brown in autumn and sometimes remains on tree most of the winter.
Fruit (seed)
A light brown acorn maturing the first year. Length 3/4 to 1 inch. About one-fourth of each acorn is enclosed in a bowl-shaped cap.
Range
Abundant in southeastern Minnesota as far north as the Twin Cities, often forming woodlands almost to the exclusion of other trees. Less abundant northward to Mille Lacs and northwestward toward St. Cloud. Absent from the northern and western parts of the state. Grows on heavy, well-drained acid soil. Does not tolerate flooding and sedimentation. Slow growing. Difficult to transplant after passing seedling state. A fine permanent tree that should be planted wherever there is available space and suitable soil.
Wood uses
The light brown, hard, durable wood is most useful for heavy construction, ships, railway ties, interior finish, furniture, and fuel.