Shape symmetrical, pyramidal, short-trunked, 40-150 ft. tall. Bark on young trunks white-mottled, on old brown, smoothish or checked into rough plates. Leaves 2-5 in. long, evergreen, the undersides densely white downy beneath, becoming smooth, with a white bloom; nerves parallel, conspicuous beneath. Fruit acorn-like but the cup scales almost prickly. Range: Mts. of sw. Ore. and n. Coast Ranges of Calif.; also in the Sierra Nevada to Mariposa Co. The wood is hard and strong, used for furniture and interior construction. The bark is highly valuable for tanning; it is stripped in May, June, and July. This magnificent tree resembles a chestnut in leaf, flower, and the cup of its acorn, but is oak-like in its shape and nut. Popularly often called “Sovereign Oak.”
White Oak
WHITE OAK
(Quercus alba)
Shape short-trunked, with very broad rounded top; 50-70 ft. tall. Bark light gray, broken by shallow fissures into long, thin, flaky scales. Branches wide-spreading. Leaves reddish brown in autumn. Range: s. and w. N.E. to centr. Fla. and e. Tex., through the s. Gt. Lakes region to se. Minn. The wood is strong, tough, heavy and durable, and is used for boat-building, interior finish, agricultural implements, barrels and clapboards. The bark is valued in tanning. VALLEY OAK (Quercus lobata) called also Maul Oak, Weeping Oak, and Roble, is a magnificent tree of Calif. with wide spreading, drooping branches. Leaves with more numerous (7-11) lobes, dark green above, gray-downy beneath: bark on old trunks furrowed into squarish, corky, gray segments.
Post Oak
POST OAK
(Quercus stellata)
Shape short-trunked, with broad, dense, round head; 60-100 ft. tall. Bark grayish brown, deeply fissured. Branches horizontal. Twigs brown. Leaves thickish, rough to touch above, gray downy below. Range: On the coast plain and piedmont of the Gulf States, n. to s. N.E., and up the Gt. Valley to Mo. and Ia., up the Ohio to Pa. The wood is heavy, hard, durable, but difficult to season; used for ties. The acorn is edible, like that of the White Oak, when boiled, and was used as a coffee substitute in the Confederate States. OREGON OAK (Quercus Garryana) is similar but with shorter leaves (2-5 in. long) and light gray bark. It is the finest timber oak from Wash. to Calif.
