Oriental white oak is a deciduous oak native to East Asia, including Korea, Japan, China, and Taiwan. It doesn't grow wild in the US and is seen here only in a few collections, though it belongs to the same white oak group as North American white oaks. Its leaves are edged with coarse, wavy teeth, and its acorns are nearly stalkless.
Appearance
- Appearance
- A long-lived, slow-growing tree that can reach about 100 ft (30 m) in the wild, with gray-brown, furrowed bark.
- Leaves
- Leaves are obovate, 4–8 in (10–20 cm) long, with coarse, wavy teeth, a glossy dark green upper side, and a pale, finely felted underside. The leafstalk is about ½–1¼ in (1–3 cm) long.
- Fruit
- Acorns are about ¾–1 in (17–25 mm) long and nearly stalkless, with a cup covering a third to half of the nut.
Look-alikes
Chestnut oakQuercus montana
Chestnut oak acorns sit on distinct stalks, and its leaves are generally smaller. Oriental white oak acorns are nearly stalkless.
Why they get mixed upThe leaves have a similar size and shape, with coarse wavy teeth and prominent parallel veins.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Mountain slopes
- Lowland and foothill forests
- Range
- Native to Korea, Japan (Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu), Taiwan, much of China, the Russian Far East, and parts of northern Southeast Asia. Not native to North America; in the US it is seen only in a few collections, such as a tree grown from Korean seed at the Morris Arboretum in Pennsylvania.
Growing it
- Care
- Has a deep taproot, so older trees are hard to transplant; it tolerates strong wind and grows in full sun or partial shade in soil that doesn't stay waterlogged.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- In East Asia the wood has been used for boatbuilding and house flooring, and the acorns can be ground into flour; in Korea they are a traditional ingredient of acorn jelly.
More species to explore
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