White oak, the state tree of Connecticut, Illinois and Maryland
The white oak is the state tree of three states: Maryland, which chose it in 1941, Connecticut in 1947 and Illinois in 1973. In two of them it recalls a famous tree: Connecticut's Charter Oak, where the colony's royal charter was reportedly hidden in 1687, and Maryland's Wye Oak. It is a large, long-lived oak with rounded leaf lobes and pale gray bark.
The 3 states
| State | Designation | Name in state law | Adopted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland | State tree | White oakMd. Code, Gen. Prov. § 7-311 (Ch. 731, Acts of 1941; renumbered from § 7-310 by Ch. 505, Acts of 2026) | 1941 |
| Connecticut | State tree | White oakC.G.S. § 3-110 | 1947 |
| Illinois | State tree | White oak5 ILCS 460/40 | 1973 |
Three states and two famous trees
Maryland made the white oak its state tree in 1941. Its most famous example, the Wye Oak at Wye Mills on the Eastern Shore, stood 96 feet tall with a trunk 31 feet 10 inches around and a crown about 119 feet wide. It was estimated at nearly 500 years old when a thunderstorm brought it down on June 6, 2002; a clone of it had been planted at Mount Vernon that April.
Connecticut followed in 1947, in honor of the Charter Oak, the tree in which the colony’s 1662 royal charter was reportedly hidden in 1687 to keep it from Sir Edmund Andros; the old tree fell in a storm on August 21, 1856.
Illinois took two votes to get there. In 1907 and 1908 schoolchildren chose “the oak,” with 21,897 votes, over the maple, with 16,517, and the elm, with 5,082, and from 1908 the state tree was simply the native oak. In 1973 a poll of about 900,000 children narrowed it to the white oak, ahead of the northern red oak, and the law was amended that year.
How to recognize it
The white oak is a large, slow-growing, long-lived tree, usually 80 to 100 feet tall, with a broad, rounded crown when mature. Its leaves are 4 to 9 inches long, with five to nine rounded, finger-like lobes and no bristle tips, bright green above and whitish beneath. The bark is light ash-gray, breaking into scaly plates, and the acorns, about an inch long, mature in a single season under a warty, bowl-like cap. Some white oaks live 600 years. The strong, nearly watertight wood is prized for barrel staves, which is why the tree is also called stave oak.
Questions people ask
- Which states have the white oak as state tree?
- Three - Connecticut, Illinois and Maryland.
- What was the Charter Oak?
- A white oak in Hartford in which Connecticut's 1662 royal charter was reportedly hidden in 1687, to keep it from the royal governor Sir Edmund Andros. It fell in a storm on August 21, 1856.
- How did Illinois choose the white oak?
- Schoolchildren chose "the oak" in 1907 and 1908, and a 1973 poll of about 900,000 children picked the white oak over the northern red oak.
- What happened to the Wye Oak?
- Maryland's famous white oak at Wye Mills, estimated at nearly 500 years old, was brought down by a thunderstorm on June 6, 2002.
- How do you recognize a white oak?
- By its leaves, with five to nine rounded, finger-like lobes and no bristle tips, and its light ash-gray, scaly bark.
Sources
- White oak Virginia Tech Dendrology
- Maryland State Tree - White Oak Maryland State Archives (Maryland Manual On-Line)
- The State Tree State of Connecticut (reproduced from the Connecticut State Register & Manual, Secretary of the State)
- State Symbol: Illinois State Tree - White Oak Illinois State Museum