Issue 9

The Mighty Oak

Oaks are members of the larger beech family of trees (Fagaceae), with its three genera: Fagus (beech trees proper), Castanea (chestnuts and chinkapins), and Quercus (oaks). There are almost 600 species of Quercus, both deciduous (leaf-shedding) and evergreen trees (such as live oaks) and shrubs.

In the Eastern United States, upland hardwood stands include scarlet, black, chestnut, red, and white oaks. Scarlet oaks are the fastest growing, and dominate many 100-year-old stands, with white oaks as intermediaries. When scarlet oaks drop out after a century or so, red and chestnut oak dominate for the next century. White oak dominates after 300 years.

The longest lived of oak species in the upland hardwood forests of the Southeast, white oak can live in some settings for 500 or 600 years. In Germany, white oak is managed for veneer on a 600-year rotation.

In the South, white oak grows in association with many other trees: other upland oaks, hickories, yellow-poplar, American basswood, white ash, sweetgum, blackgum, American beech, sugar maple, shortleaf pine, loblolly pine, eastern white pine, and eastern hemlock. The most frequent associates are other oaks and the hickories.

 

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