Editing Quercus alba (section)

== Description ==
''Quercus alba'' typically reaches heights of {{convert|80|to(-)|100|ft|order=flip|abbr=off}} at maturity, and its canopy can become quite massive as its lower branches are apt to extend far out laterally, parallel to the ground. Trees growing in a forest will become much taller than ones in an open area which develop to be short and massive. The [[Mingo Oak]] was the tallest known white oak at over two hundred feet with a trunk height of {{convert|145|ft|4=1|order=flip|abbr=on}} before it was felled in 1938.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Encyclopedia|first=West Virginia|title=September 23, 1938: Cutting of the Mingo Oak|url=https://www.wvpublic.org/post/september-23-1938-cutting-mingo-oak|access-date=2020-07-29|website=www.wvpublic.org|language=en|archive-date=2019-09-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924030130/https://www.wvpublic.org/post/september-23-1938-cutting-mingo-oak|url-status=dead}}</ref> It is not unusual for the crown spread of a white oak tree to be as wide as it is tall, but specimens growing at high altitudes may only become small shrubs.    
The bark is a light ash-gray and peels somewhat from the top, bottom and/or sides.<ref name="FNA">{{eFloras|1|233501007|Quercus alba|family=Fagaceae|first=Kevin C.|last=Nixon}}</ref> According to Chris Bolgiano in ''The Appalachian Forest: A Search for Roots and Renewal'', the largest tree ever cut in [[West Virginia]] was a white oak that measured thirteen feet thick at its base.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bolgiano |first1=Chris |title=The Appalachian Forest: a search for roots and renewal |date=1998 |publisher=Stackpole Books |location=Mechanicsburg, PA |isbn=0-8117-0126-3 |page=25}}</ref>
       
White oak may live 200 to 300 years, with some even older specimens known. The [[Wye Oak]] in [[Wye Mills, Maryland]] was estimated to be over 450 years old when it finally fell in a thunderstorm in 2002.<ref name=NAL>{{cite web |url=http://www.nal.usda.gov/speccoll/images1/wye.html |title=An American Champion: Maryland's Wye Oak |work=Special Collections |publisher=National Agricultural Library |date=June 12, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020612131555/http://www.nal.usda.gov/speccoll/images1/wye.html |archive-date=June 12, 2002}}</ref>

Another noted white oak was the [[Basking Ridge White Oak Tree|Basking Ridge white oak]] in [[New Jersey]], estimated to have been over 600 years old when it died in 2016. The tree measured {{convert|25|ft|m|0|order=flip|abbr=on}} in circumference at the base and {{convert|16|ft|m|0|order=flip|abbr=on}} in circumference {{convert|4|ft|m|order=flip|abbr=on}} above the ground. The tree was {{convert|75|ft|m|order=flip|abbr=on}} tall, and its branches spread over {{convert|125|ft|m|order=flip|abbr=on}} from tip to tip.<ref name=BaskRidgeOak>{{cite web |url=http://www.historicalsocietyofsomersethills.org/baskingridgeoaktree.php |title=THSSH Profile – The Historic Basking Ridge Oak Tree |publisher=The Historical Society of Somerset Hills |access-date=June 29, 2016 |archive-date=September 1, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180901055321/http://www.historicalsocietyofsomersethills.org/baskingridgeoaktree.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> The oak, claimed to be the oldest in the United States, began showing signs of poor health in the mid-2010s.<ref name=WaPo>{{cite web |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-town-tries-to-care-for-and-let-go-of-its-oldest-resident--a-600-year-old-oak/2016/06/27/a7fc4dcc-3a1a-11e6-8f7c-d4c723a2becb_story.html |title=The oldest white oak tree in the country is dying — and no one knows why |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=June 27, 2016 |author=Nutt, Amy Ellis |access-date=June 29, 2016}}</ref> The tree was taken down in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nj.com/somerset/index.ssf/2017/04/600-year-old_new_jersey_is_being_chopped_down.html|title=N.J. community says goodbye to 600-year-old oak tree
|date= April 24, 2017 |author=Hutchinson, Dave |access-date=October 9, 2018}}</ref>

Sexual maturity begins at around 20 years, but the tree does not produce large crops of acorns until its 50th year and the amount varies from year to year. Acorns deteriorate quickly after ripening, the germination rate being only 10% for six-month-old seeds. As the [[acorn]]s are prime food for insects and other animals, all may be consumed in years of small crops, leaving none that would become new trees.<ref>{{FEIS |type=tree |last=Tirmenstein |first=D. A. |year=1991 |genus=Quercus |species=alba |access-date=2013-05-08}}</ref> The acorns are usually sessile, and grow to {{convert|1/2|to(-)|1|in|order=flip|abbr=on|round=5}} in length, falling in early October.

In spring, the young [[leaves]] are delicate, silvery pink, and covered with a soft blanket-like down. The petioles are short, and the clustered leaves close to the ends of the shoots are pale green and downy, resulting in the entire tree having a misty, frosty look. This condition continues for several days, passing through the opalescent changes of soft pink, silvery white, and finally, yellow green.<ref name=Keeler /><ref name=FNA />
The leaves grow to be {{convert|5|to(-)|8+1/2|in|cm|round=0.5|order=flip|abbr=off}} long and {{convert|2+3/4|to(-)|4+1/2|in|cm|round=0.5|order=flip}} wide and have a deep glossy green upper surface. They usually turn red or brown in autumn, but depending on climate, site, and individual tree genetics, some trees are nearly always red, or even purple in autumn. Some dead leaves may remain on the tree throughout winter until very early spring. The lobes can be shallow, extending less than halfway to the midrib, or deep and somewhat branching.

''Quercus alba'' is sometimes confused with the [[swamp white oak]], a closely related species, and the [[bur oak]]. The white oak hybridizes freely with the bur oak, the [[post oak]], and the [[chestnut oak]].<ref name=Keeler />

;Detailed description
* Bark: Light gray, varying to dark gray and to white; shallow, fissured and scaly. Branchlets start out as bright green, later turn reddish-green, and finally, light gray. A distinguishing feature of this tree is that a little over halfway up the trunk, the bark tends to form overlapping scales that are easily noticed and aid in identification.<ref name="FNA" />
* Wood: Light brown with paler sapwood; strong, tough, heavy, fine-grained and durable. Specific gravity, 0.7470; weight of one cubic foot, 46.35&nbsp;lbs; weight of one cubic meter 770&nbsp;kg.<ref name="FNA" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nichetimbers.co.uk/stock/north-american/white-oak/ |title=White Oak • Niche Timbers |website=Niche Timbers}}</ref>
* Winter buds: Reddish brown, obtuse, {{convert|1/8|in|mm|0|order=flip|abbr=on}} long.<ref name="FNA" />
* Leaves: Alternate, {{convert|5-9|in|cm|order=flip|abbr=on|0}} long, {{convert|3-4|in|cm|round=0.5|abbr=on|order=flip}} wide. Obovate or oblong, seven to nine-lobed, usually seven-lobed with rounded lobes and rounded sinuses; lobes destitute of bristles; sinuses sometimes deep, sometimes shallow. On young trees the leaves are often repand. They come out of the bud conduplicate, are bright red above, pale below, and covered with white [[Trichome#Aerial surface hairs|tomentum]]. The reddish hue fades in a week or less, and they become silvery greenish, white, and shiny; when mature, they are thin, bright yellow-green, shiny or dull above, pale, glaucous or smooth below; the midrib is stout and yellow, primary veins are conspicuous.  In late autumn the leaves turn a deep red and drop, or on young trees, remain on the branches throughout winter. Petioles are short, stout, grooved, and flattened. Stipules are linear and caducous.<ref name=FNA />
* Flowers: Appear in May when leaves are one-third grown. Staminate flowers are borne in hairy aments {{convert|2+1/2 - 3|in|cm|round=0.5|order=flip|abbr=on}} long; the calyx is bright yellow, hairy, and six to eight-lobed with lobes shorter than the stamens; anthers are yellow.  Pistillate flowers are borne on short peduncles; involucral scales are hairy and reddish; calyx lobes are acute; stigmas are bright red.<ref name=FNA /> [[Extrafloral nectaries]] have been reported for this species.<ref>{{cite journal |date=2012-10-18 |first1=Marjorie G. |last1=Weber |first2=Kathleen H. |last2=Keeler |title=The phylogenetic distribution of extrafloral nectaries in plants |pages=1251–1261 |doi=10.1093/aob/mcs225 |journal=Annals of Botany |eissn=1095-8290 |volume=111 |issue=6|pmc=3662505 }}</ref>
* Acorns: Annual, sessile or stalked; nut ovoid or oblong, round at apex, light brown, shiny, {{convert|3/4 - 1|in|mm|round=5|order=flip|abbr=on}} long; cap is cup-shaped, encloses about one-fourth of the nut, tomentose on the outside, tuberculate at base, scales with short obtuse tips becoming smaller and thinner toward the rim.<ref name=Keeler /> White Oak acorns (referring to ''Q. alba'' and all its close relatives) have no epigeal dormancy and germination begins readily without any treatment. In most cases, the oak root sprouts in the fall, with the leaves and stem appearing the next spring. The acorns take only one growing season to develop unlike the red oak group, which require two years for maturation.<ref name=FNA />

{{gallery|mode=packed
|File:2014-11-02 12 14 43 Old White Oak during autumn at the Ewing Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Ewing, New Jersey.JPG|Large white oak in a [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]-era cemetery ([[Ewing Township, New Jersey|Ewing]], [[New Jersey]], 2014)
|File:Ancient White Oak in Bronte, Oakville, Ontario.jpg|A large white oak in [[Bronte, Ontario|Bronte]], [[Oakville, Ontario|Oakville]], [[Ontario]], dating to 1750.<ref name="Bronte White Oak History">{{cite web |title=History of the Great White Bronte Oak |url=https://www.oufc.org/2014/06/08/history-great-white-bronte-oak/ |website=Ontario Urban Forest Council |access-date=25 January 2022 |archive-date=4 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004180534/https://www.oufc.org/2014/06/08/history-great-white-bronte-oak/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
|File:White Oak Quercus alba Tree Bark 3264px.jpg|Bark on a large trunk
|File:2013-05-10 13 16 53 New foliage of White Oak along the Mount Misery Trail in Brendan T. Byrne State Forest, New Jersey.jpg|New foliage of ''Quercus alba''
|File:White oak foliage.JPG|White oak foliage
|File:White oak Quercus alba prolific acorns.jpg|Fallen acorns from prolific tree
|File:2014-11-02 11 37 14 White Oak foliage during autumn along Lower Ferry Road in Ewing, New Jersey.JPG|Autumn foliage
}}

=== Chemistry ===
[[Grandinin]]/roburin E, [[castalagin]]/[[vescalagin]], [[gallic acid]], monogalloyl glucose ([[glucogallin]]) and [[valoneic acid dilactone]], monogalloyl glucose, [[digalloyl glucose]], [[trigalloyl glucose]], ellagic acid rhamnose, [[quercitrin]] and [[ellagic acid]] are phenolic compounds found in ''Q. alba''.<ref>Analysis of oak tannins by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry. Pirjo Mämmelä, Heikki Savolainen, Lasse Lindroos, Juhani Kangas and Terttu Vartiainen, Journal of Chromatography A, Volume 891, Issue 1, 1 September 2000, Pages 75-83, {{doi|10.1016/S0021-9673(00)00624-5}}</ref>

The [[haplotype]]-resolved [[Chromosome|chromosome-scale]] [[genome]] of Q. alba was published in 2025.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Larson |first1=Drew A. |last2=Staton |first2=Margaret E. |last3=Kapoor |first3=Beant |last4=Islam-Faridi |first4=Nurul |last5=Zhebentyayeva |first5=Tetyana |last6=Fan |first6=Shenghua |last7=Stork |first7=Jozsef |last8=Thomas |first8=Austin |last9=Ahmed |first9=Alaa S. |last10=Stanton |first10=Elizabeth C. |last11=Houston |first11=Allan |last12=Schlarbaum |first12=Scott E. |last13=Hahn |first13=Matthew W. |last14=Carlson |first14=John E. |last15=Abbott |first15=Albert G. |title=A haplotype-resolved reference genome of Quercus alba sheds light on the evolutionary history of oaks |journal=New Phytologist |date=2025 |pages=331–348 |language=en |volume=246 |issue=1 |doi=10.1111/nph.20463 |issn=1469-8137|doi-access=free |pmid=39931867 |pmc=11883056 }}</ref>