AMERICAN WHITE OAK - Quercus alba
The tree species Quercus alba, also called American White Oak is one of the pre-eminent hardwoods of eastern North America. It is a long-lived oak in the family Fagaceae, native to eastern North America, from southern Quebec west to eastern Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and eastern Texas. American White Oak specimens are known to have lived over 600 years. Although called the ‘White’ Oak it is very unusual to find an individual tree with white bark; the usual colour is an ashen grey. In the forest Oak trees reach a magnificent height. In the open they develop into a massive broad-topped tree with great limbs striking out at wide angles. Normally not a very tall tree, typically 65-85ft (20-25m) high at maturity, American White Oak nonetheless becomes quite massive and its lower branches are apt to reach far out laterally parallel to the ground. The tallest known American White Oak is 144ft (44m) high. It is not unusual for an American White Oak tree to be as wide as it is tall. Conversely, specimens at high altitude may only be small shrubs. American White Oaks have been known to live over five hundred years. The bark is a light ash-grey and somewhat peeling, variously from the top, bottom and/or sides. In spring the young leaves are exquisite in their delicate silvery pink, covered with soft down as with a blanket. The petioles are short, and the leaves which cluster close to the ends of the shoots are pale green and downy with the result that the entire tree has a misty, frosty look which is very beautiful. This lovely vision continues for several days passing through the opalescent changes of soft pink, silvery white and finally yellow green.The leaves grow to 5-8.5“ (12-22cm) long and 2.75-4.5” (7-12cm) broad, with a deep glossy green upper surface. The leaves 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, others turn straight to a brown. Some brown, dead leaves may remain on the tree throughout winter until very early spring. They are variably lobed; sometimes the lobes are shallow, extending less than half-way to the midrib, but sometimes they are deeply lobed, with the lobes somewhat branching. The acorns are usually sessile, and grow to ½ - 1” (1.5-2.5cm) long, falling in early October. American White Oak is sometimes confused with the Swamp White Oak, a closely-related species, and the Bur Oak. The American White Oak hybridises freely with the Bur Oak, the Post Oak, and the Chestnut Oak.
American White Oak Bark: Light grey, varying to dark grey and to white; shallow fissured and scaly. American White Oak Branchlets: at first bright green, later reddish-green and finally light grey. A very distinguishing feature of the American White Oak tree is that a little over half way up the tree the bark tends to become platy, that is that it looks sort of like overlapping scales that are easy to see and make the American White Oak tree easy to identify. American White Oak Wood: Light brown with paler sapwood; strong, tough, heavy, fine-grained, durable and beautiful. American White Oak Winter buds: Reddish brown, obtuse, one-eighth of an inch long. Leaves: Alternate, five to nine inches long, three to four inches 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 American White Oak trees the leaves are often repand. They come out of the bud conduplicate, bright red above, pale below and covered with white tomentum; the red faded quickly and they become silvery greenish white and shining; when full grown are thin, bright yellow green, shining or dull above, pale, glaucous or smooth below; midrib stout, yellow, primary veins conspicuous. In late autumn they turn a deep red and drop, or on young trees remain on the branches throughout the winter. Petioles short, stout, grooved, and flattened. Stipules linear, caduceus. American White Oak Flowers: May, when leaves are one-third grown. Staminate flowers borne in hairy aments 2-3” ( 5-8cm) long; calyx bright yellow, hairy, six to eight-lobed, lobes shorter than the stamens; anthers yellow. Pistillate flowers borne on short peduncles; involucral scales hairy, reddish; calyx lobes acute; stigmas bright red. Acorns: Annual, sessile or stalked; nut ovoid or oblong, round at the apex, light brown, shining, 3/4-1” (2-3cm) long; cup 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. The acorns from the American White Oak are much less bitter than the acorns of Red Oaks. They are small relative to most Oaks, but are a valuable wildlife food, notably for turkeys, wood ducks, pheasants, grackles, jays, nuthatches, thrushes, woodpeckers, rabbits, squirrels and deer. They were also used by Native Americans as a food. The white oak is the only known food plant of Bucculatrix luteella and Bucculatrix ochrisuffusa caterpillars. American White Oak Distribution: The American White Oak is fairly tolerant of a variety of habitats, and may be found on ridges, in valleys, and in between, and in dry and moist habitats, and in moderately acid and alkaline soils. It is mainly a lowland tree, but reaches altitudes of 5,249ft (1600m) in the Appalachian Mountains. American White Oak Cultivation: The American White Oak makes an outstanding shade tree, with an exceptionally wide spread and almost never dropping limbs. However, it does not tolerate urban conditions well, due to an intolerance of soil compaction and changes in soil levels. It may thrive in residential neighbourhoods where protected from such change. Uses: The wood of the American White Oak is the best and most valuable of the white oaks, although wood of most of the other white oaks may be marketed with it. American White Oak is relatively rot resistant. American White Oaks have cellular structures called tyloses. Tyloses give the wood a closed cellular structure, which does not allow water to pass. Tyloses are cell ingrowths of living wood parenchyma into the cavities of xylem conducting cells. The American White Oaks with tyloses, are used in making wine and whiskey barrels as well as outdoor furniture. Red Oaks do not have the tyloses, thus white oak barrels are used in wine and whiskey production to prevent leaking, which would be the result of using Red Oaks. The American White Oak has been used for construction, shipbuilding, cooperage, agricultural implements, and interior finish of houses. The American White Oak is used extensively in Japanese martial arts for some weapons such as bokken and jo. It is valued for its density, strength, resiliency and relatively low chance of splintering if broken by an impact, relative to the substantially cheaper Red Oak. Urban legend attributes Japanese White Oak (“Kashi”) as the choice wood but, by law, no white oak is harvested in Japan. Virtually all white oak used in the manufacture of weapons in Japan is imported from North Western United States. The acorns are much less bitter than the acorns of red oaks. They are small relative to most oaks, but are a valuable wildlife food, notably for turkeys, wood ducks, pheasants, grackles, jays, nuthatches, thrushes, woodpeckers, rabbits, squirrels and deer. They were also used by Native Americans as a food. The white oak is the only known foodplant of Bucculatrix luteella and Bucculatrix ochrisuffusa caterpillars.
American White Oak is similar in colour and appearance to European oak. The sapwood of American White Oak is light coloured and the heartwood is light to dark brown. American White Oak flooring is mostly straight grained with a medium to coarse texture, with longer rays than Red Oak. American White Oak flooring therefore has more figure.
American White Oak is one of the most stable and durable of all hardwoods and makes an ideal floor for both residential and commercial installations alike. Indeed, Oak has been the most popular choice for hardwood flooring for centuries, both here in Europe and throughout America. The reason for Oak’s enduring popularity is three fold; firstly Oak is in abundance, particularly in North America where most of our Oak comes from. Secondly, due to its abundance, Oak has a comparatively low market price enabling us to sell solid Oak flooring from as little as £19.95m2 for Rustic Grade American White Oak. And thirdly, Oak has a very warm, light, honey colouring which darkens slowly with age making it an ideal neutral base for most room settings.
Timber Neutral has built an enviable reputation for our extensive range of very wide plank solid oak flooring. In fact our wide board oak flooring starts where most other suppliers finish - at a full 200mm wide - and goes right the way up to a massive 350mm wide. Our beautiful wide board oak flooring regularly features on the pages of leading interior design magazines such as 25 Beautiful Homes and Grand Designs. Take a look at our 300mm wide solid oak flooring installed recently in Maggie & Simon Bound’s beautiful London home and featured in 25 Beautiful Homes magazine.
So, what about installing solid oak flooring on top of underfloor heating? Well, contrary to what you may have read or heard elsewhere wide board solid oak flooring is indeed absolutely suitable for use over underfloor heating - providing of course that it is installed correctly, ie glued and nailed to a 18mm plywood sub floor and the heating system never permitted to exceeds 27 degrees. Our Oak flooring is all kiln dried in America down to a low 6-8% moisture content making it suitable for installing over underfloor heating systems.
