The white oak is not common in the nursery trade because it is slow growing, by nursery standards. It is this very characteristic that makes it special in our gardens and forests.
White oaks live for centuries.
These are the white oaks in Dardanelle under which Robert Crittenden signed the 1823 treaty ceding the land south of the Arkansas River to white settlement. Because of their potential for attaining such great age, white oaks should always get first consideration when it comes to our protection. The oak clan is divided into two tribes, the white oaks and the red oaks. The red oaks, regardless of the shape of the leaf, always have a bristle on the tip of the leaf while the white oaks have rounded lobes and never have a bristle. The acorns of white oaks also germinate differently, with a root emerging in the fall when they drop.