Note 3 — WHITE OAK

The oaks of this country, which number more than fifty species, have been classified in different ways, depending upon the purpose in view. In the present treatment they will be divided in two general groups, white oaks and black oaks. No effort will be made to draw hard and fast lines, because it is not necessary. Oaks which ripen their acorns in one year are listed as white oaks; those with two year acorns, as black oaks. This is a botanical rather than a lumberman’s classification; yet lumbermen recognize it in a general way. White oak (Quercus alba) is clearly entitled to head the list of white oaks, and red oak (Quercus rubra) should occupy a similar position with regard to the black oak group. In numbers, the white oaks and black oaks are nearly equally divided, one authority giving twenty-seven species of white oak and twenty-five of black oak in the United States; but botanists differ as to exact numbers of each. The following species are usually classed as white oaks: White oak (Quercus alba), valley oak (Quercus lobata), Brewer oak (Quercus breweri), Sadler oak (Quercus sadleri), Pacific post oak (Quercus garryana), Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii), post oak (Quercus minor), Chapman oak (Quercus chapmani), bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa), overcup oak (Quercus lyrata), swamp white oak (Quercus platanoides), cow oak (Quercus michauxii), chestnut oak (Quercus prinus), chinquapin oak (Quercus acuminata), dwarf chinquapin oak (Quercus prinoides), Durand oak (Quercus breviloba), Rocky Mountain oak (Quercus undulata), California blue oak (Quercus douglasii), Engelmann oak (Quercus engelmanni), Rocky Mountain blue oak (Quercus oblongifolia), Arizona white oak (Quercus arizonica), Toumey oak (Quercus toumeyi), netleaf oak (Quercus reticulata), California scrub oak (Quercus dumosa), live oak (Quercus virginiana), Emory oak (Quercus emoryi).