Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Quercus alba

Quercus hypoleucoides

chêne blanc, eastern white oak, white oak

silverleaf oak
Habit Trees, deciduous, to 25 m. Bark light gray, scaly. Trees or shrubs, evergreen, to 10 m. Bark black, deeply furrowed.
Twigs

green or reddish, becoming gray, 2-3(-4) mm diam., initially pubescent, soon glabrous.

dark reddish brown, 1.5-3 mm diam., pubescent.
Buds

dark reddish brown, ovoid, ca. 3 mm, apex obtuse, glabrous.

Leaves

blade obovate to narrowly elliptic or narrowly obovate, (79-)120-180(-230) × (40-)70-110(-165) mm, base narrowly cuneate to acute, margins moderately to deeply lobed, lobes often narrow, rounded distally, sinuses extending 1/3-7/8 distance to midrib, secondary veins arched, divergent, (3-)5-7 on each side, apex broadly rounded or ovate;

surfaces abaxially light green, with numerous whitish or reddish erect hairs, these quickly shed as leaf expands, adaxially light gray-green, dull or glossy.

blade narrowly ovate to ovate or elliptic, 45-120 × 15-40 mm, base cuneate to rounded, margins strongly revolute, entire or spinose with up to 11 awns, apex acute to attenuate;

surfaces abaxially densely tawny- or white-tomentose, adaxially noticeably rugose, glabrous.
Acorns

1-3, subsessile or on peduncle to 25(-50) mm;

cup hemispheric, enclosing 1/4 nut, scales closely appressed, finely grayish tomentose;

nut light brown, ovoid-ellipsoid or oblong, (12-)15-21(-25) × 9-18 mm, glabrous.

annual or biennial;

cup deeply saucer- or cup-shaped, 4.5-7 mm high × 6-13 mm wide, covering 1/3 nut or less, outer surface pubescent to sparsely puberulent, inner surface pubescent to floccose, scales appressed, blunt;

nut ellipsoid to oblong, 8-16 × 5-10 mm, glabrous, scar diam. 2.5-5.5 mm.
Cotyledons

distinct.

Terminal

buds light chestnut brown, ovoid, 2.5-4.5 mm, glabrous except for ciliate scale margins, occasionally with tuft of hairs at apex.
2n

= 24.

Quercus alba

Quercus hypoleucoides
Phenology Flowering in spring. Flowering spring.
Habitat Moist to fairly dry, deciduous forests usually on deeper, well-drained loams, also on thin soils on dry upland slopes, sometimes on barrens Common in moist canyons and on ridges
Elevation 0-1600 m (0-5200 ft) 1500-2700 m (4900-8900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; CT; DE; FL; GA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; NM; TX; n Mexico
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Considerable variation in depth of lobing occurs in the leaves of Quercus alba (M. J. Baranski 1975; J. W. Hardin 1975); the species is easily distinguished from others, however, by the light gray-green, glabrous mature leaves and cuneate leaf bases.

In the past Quercus alba was considered to be the source of the finest and most durable oak lumber in America for furniture and shipbuilding. Now it has been replaced almost entirely in commerce by various species of eastern red oak (e.g., Q. rubra, Q. velutina, and Q. falcata) that are more common and have faster growth and greater yields. These red oaks also lack tyloses and therefore are more suited to pressure treating with preservatives, even though they are less decay-resistant without treatment.

Medicinally, Quercus alba was used by Native Americans to treat diarrhea, indigestion, chronic dysentery, mouth sores, chapped skin, asthma, milky urine, rheumatism, coughs, sore throat, consumption, bleeding piles, and muscle aches, as an antiseptic, and emetic, and a wash for chills and fevers, to bring up phlegm, as a witchcraft medicine, and as a psychological aid (D. E. Moerman 1986).

Numerous hybrids between Quercus alba and other species of white oak have been reported, and some have been named. J. W. Hardin (1975) reviewed the hybrids of Quercus alba. Nothospecies names based on putative hybrids involving Q. alba include: Q. ×beadlei Trelease (= Q. alba × prinus), Q. ×bebbiana Schneider (= Q. alba × macrocarpa), Q. ×bimundorum E. J. Palmer (= Q. alba × robur), Q. ×deami Trelease (= Q. alba × muhlenbergii), Q. ×faxoni Trelease (= Q. alba × prinoides), Q. ×jackiana Schneider (= Q. alba × bicolor), and Q. ×saulei Schneider (= Q. alba × montana).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Quercus hypoleucoides reportedly hybridizes with Q. gravesii (Q. ×inconstans E. J. Palmer [= Q. livermorensis C. H. Muller]) (see C. H. Muller 1951). Several specimens from Pima County, Arizona, fall outside the range of typical Q. hypoleucoides, suggesting hybridization with the Mexican Q. mcvaughii Spellenberg (R. Spellenberg 1992).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Lobatae
Sibling taxa
Q. acerifolia, Q. agrifolia, Q. ajoensis, Q. arizonica, Q. arkansana, Q. austrina, Q. berberidifolia, Q. bicolor, Q. boyntonii, Q. buckleyi, Q. carmenensis, Q. chapmanii, Q. chihuahuensis, Q. chrysolepis, Q. coccinea, Q. cornelius-mulleri, Q. depressipes, Q. douglasii, Q. dumosa, Q. durata, Q. ellipsoidalis, Q. emoryi, Q. engelmannii, Q. falcata, Q. fusiformis, Q. gambelii, Q. garryana, Q. geminata, Q. georgiana, Q. graciliformis, Q. gravesii, Q. grisea, Q. havardii, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. hinckleyi, Q. hypoleucoides, Q. ilicifolia, Q. imbricaria, Q. incana, Q. inopina, Q. intricata, Q. john-tuckeri, Q. kelloggii, Q. laceyi, Q. laevis, Q. laurifolia, Q. lobata, Q. lyrata, Q. macrocarpa, Q. margarettae, Q. marilandica, Q. michauxii, Q. minima, Q. mohriana, Q. montana, Q. muehlenbergii, Q. myrtifolia, Q. nigra, Q. oblongifolia, Q. oglethorpensis, Q. pacifica, Q. pagoda, Q. palmeri, Q. palustris, Q. phellos, Q. polymorpha, Q. prinoides, Q. pumila, Q. pungens, Q. robur, Q. robusta, Q. rubra, Q. rugosa, Q. sadleriana, Q. shumardii, Q. similis, Q. sinuata, Q. stellata, Q. tardifolia, Q. texana, Q. tomentella, Q. toumeyi, Q. turbinella, Q. vacciniifolia, Q. vaseyana, Q. velutina, Q. viminea, Q. virginiana, Q. wislizenii
Q. acerifolia, Q. agrifolia, Q. ajoensis, Q. alba, Q. arizonica, Q. arkansana, Q. austrina, Q. berberidifolia, Q. bicolor, Q. boyntonii, Q. buckleyi, Q. carmenensis, Q. chapmanii, Q. chihuahuensis, Q. chrysolepis, Q. coccinea, Q. cornelius-mulleri, Q. depressipes, Q. douglasii, Q. dumosa, Q. durata, Q. ellipsoidalis, Q. emoryi, Q. engelmannii, Q. falcata, Q. fusiformis, Q. gambelii, Q. garryana, Q. geminata, Q. georgiana, Q. graciliformis, Q. gravesii, Q. grisea, Q. havardii, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. hinckleyi, Q. ilicifolia, Q. imbricaria, Q. incana, Q. inopina, Q. intricata, Q. john-tuckeri, Q. kelloggii, Q. laceyi, Q. laevis, Q. laurifolia, Q. lobata, Q. lyrata, Q. macrocarpa, Q. margarettae, Q. marilandica, Q. michauxii, Q. minima, Q. mohriana, Q. montana, Q. muehlenbergii, Q. myrtifolia, Q. nigra, Q. oblongifolia, Q. oglethorpensis, Q. pacifica, Q. pagoda, Q. palmeri, Q. palustris, Q. phellos, Q. polymorpha, Q. prinoides, Q. pumila, Q. pungens, Q. robur, Q. robusta, Q. rubra, Q. rugosa, Q. sadleriana, Q. shumardii, Q. similis, Q. sinuata, Q. stellata, Q. tardifolia, Q. texana, Q. tomentella, Q. toumeyi, Q. turbinella, Q. vacciniifolia, Q. vaseyana, Q. velutina, Q. viminea, Q. virginiana, Q. wislizenii
Synonyms Q. hypoleuca
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 996. (1753) A. Camus: Bull. Mus. Natl. Hist. Nat., sér. 2, 4: 124. (1932)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers