The White Oak is the representative member of the white oak group. The tree is large (75 feet) with a bole diameter of more than two feet. The trunk has light gray bark in furrowed scales. Leaves are short (under five inches long) and are hairless and light underneath. They have evenly distributed lobes. The acorns are more than an half-inch long with shallow bowl-shaped caps. Twigs have blunt,straight buds. Buds and twigs are hairless.

The growing region is from Texas to Maine. Some white oaks are over 300 years old. Oak is a hardwood providing a major portion of the annual lumber in the United States. Oak trees are generally slow-growing and long-lived and tend to be relatively resistant to diseases and insects. The wood of the white oak is used in furniture, construction materials, pallets and flooring. Tannin is a major produce from oak bark. Indians boiled the acorns for a startchy food supplement.