HOW MANY KINDS OF OAK TREES ARE THERE?
Oak trees are among the world's sturdiest trees. They can be found in many different lands and scientists tell us there are about 215 different species or kinds growing.
In North America, oaks can grow almost any place that other kinds of trees grow. But they do not do well in regions of great cold. Oaks grow southward from North America into the Andes in South America.
Oaks flourish from Malaya and China westward across the Himalaya and the Caucauses. They grow throughout most of Europe, from Sicily northward to the Arctic Circle.
Main feature of the oak that sets it apart from other trees is the acorn. The acorn is the fruit of the oak tree. It is a round, smooth shelled nut, pointed at the outer end. A scaly saucer or cup encloses the base of the nut.
Most oak trees can also be recognized by their notched or lobed leaves. But a few kinds, inlcuding the live oak, have smooth edged leaves, unlike most of the others.
It usually takes a young oak tree 20 years before it is able to bear acorns. The trees grow very slowly.
Most oak trees live to be 200 to 300 years old. In England, there are some oak trees said to be over 900 years old. The oaks were sacred in the days of the Druids, more than 2,000 years old.
Among famous oak trees in American history is the Charter Oak of Hartford, Connecticut. The charter of the colony of Connecticut was hidden from the colony's English governor in this tree.
Noblest of all American oaks is the white oak, which sometimes grows to be 150 feet high. The trunk may measure eight feet thick. The bark is pale gray. In the autumn, the finger shaped lobes of the leaves turn a deep red or golden brown.
The white oak thrives from Canada south of the Gulf of Mexico and west to Texas.
Largest white oak in the United States can be found in Talbot county of Maryland. Called the Wye Oak, it is 95 feet tall and the trunk is more than 27 feet around.
The black oak grows from Maine to Florida and west to Minnesota, Kansas and the eastern part of Texas. The bark of old trees is almost black.
Red oaks are common in the eastern part of the United States. The inner layers of the grayish brown bark are red.
The live oak is a favorite tree in the Southern States. Often this oak is draped in Spanish moss which gives the tree an elegant, charming look.
Man has made use of timber cut from oak trees for many hundreds of years. Before steel became popular for shipbuilding, oak ranked as the chief kind of lumber used for boats.
Oak wood is valued for its strength and also for its beauty.