For Father’s Day, we have chosen the White Oak (Quercus alba) as ArborNote’s Tree of the Week. The White Oak symbolizes strength, stability, and wisdom, which is perfect for Father’s Day! It is a long-lived oak, native to eastern and central North America and found from Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec, and southern Maine south as far as northern Florida and eastern Texas. Some trees have been found to be 450 years old! Although called a white oak, it is very unusual to find an individual specimen with white bark; the usual colour is a light gray. The name comes from the colour of the finished wood.typically reaches heights of 80–100 feet at maturity, and its canopy can become quite massive as its lower branches are apt to extend far out laterally, parallel to the ground. Trees growing in a forest will become much taller than ones in an open area which develop to be short and massive. The acorns are a major food source for turkeys, wood ducks, pheasants, grackles, jays, nuthatches, thrushes, woodpeckers, rabbits, squirrels, deer, and black bear. The white oak is also the only known food plant of the Bucculatrix ochrisuffusa caterpillar. The wood is a favorite for making banjos because of its mellower timbre. Barrels made of American white oak are commonly used for oak aging of wine, in which the wood is noted for imparting strong flavors. Also, by federal regulation, bourbon whiskey must be aged in charred new oak (generally understood to mean specifically American white oak) barrels. If you’re a bourbon fan, it’s very likely that your favorite bourbon is aged in a white oak barrel!