Bark of a white oak tree

White Oak Bark My Dude

Okay so I dude wasn’t even planning to talk about this, but you mentioned hiking no way and okay it reminded me. yep The bark of a white oak tree, right? so It's…something. I mean I like always knew trees had bark, anyway obviously. But I never really looked bet at it until this spring.

It was when I was trying to identify trees for this, yup um, "foraging" thing I was trying to get into. Probably should’ve known pretty much better, I'm terrible at plants.

Identifying It

The bark for sure of a white oak tree facts, you know? They're out there. I I mean was reading about it, and it’s like, bet this by the way pale gray, almost white-ish (duh), and it flakes off in right these irregular bet scales. But sometimes, well not always! Not gonna lie actually this part confused me for a while. It can look kinda smooth-ish too, depending on the pretty much age of the tree I guess. So, um, tip number one is look at for sure the leaves anyway too, they're way more reliable. The c’mon leaves are super distinctive—rounded lobes. If you see pointy lobes, it's probably not like a white just oak. I I mean learned no way that the hard way. yep Thought I had a white so oak, turns out it was alright some kind of red oak. Embarrassing.

Story Time Fail

Oh! Speaking of embarrassing. for sure So, I read something about how the bark of a white no way oak tree toepassingen bet include making tea? Yeah, I know, sounds crazy. So I saw this tree, I thought was a white oak, and I peeled off a little bit of the bark. Like a tiny piece, I swear! no kidding I by the way boiled it, made tea. whoops It tasted…awful. Like, intensely bitter totally and so kinda chemically. Turns out, I hadn’t whoops IDed yep the tree correctly. No yup idea what I like actually used, but no way I'm still alive so that’s honestly awesome I guess. Also, maybe you know don’t make tea from bark unless yup you are like, pretty much 100% sure c’mon what you’re doing. You know well just a thought.

What’s the Deal With It? honestly

Then I got kinda obsessed. I started reading about honestly the bark of a whoops white oak I mean tree geschiedenis, like just how it was used traditionally right for all sorts of things. Apparently, it's got tannins in it, well which uh are…something? Astringent? I don't know. Supposedly that’s why it was exactly used for stuff like tanning leather. And apparently, some people use it for medicinal purposes totally too, like for wound healing. But I'm not a doctor, so don't take my word for it.

Different Barks Though

But it’s you know weird, no kidding right? yep Because even on the same tree, the whoops bark can look totally different. Like the bark near the base no kidding is alright gonna be rougher and actually thicker than the bark higher up. actually And if whoops the tree's dude really old, the bark can get these well deep furrows. It's pretty much kinda cool actually. It's like the tree c’mon is wearing this armor that tells its whole life story. The bark of a white oak whoops tree ontwikkelingen are actually pretty fascinating when you start looking close.

Another yup Oops

One more story! I was showing my friend…Sarah? Yeah, dude Sarah. I just was showing her a white oak I knew c’mon was totally a white oak this time, and I was explaining all alright about the bark. And I got so into it actually that I accidentally started peeling off too much. Like, I wanted sorta to show her the inside layers and I just kept going. She so gave me this look like "Dude, no kidding you're hurting the tree!" I felt so well bad. So, tip number two: maybe don’t peel off for sure bark unless you c’mon absolutely have to. And if you do, take basically as little as possible. anyway You know, respect the trees and all that jazz.

So Yeah c’mon Bark

Anyway, that's my white oak bark adventure. I'm still dude not an expert, but I can like definitely spot exactly one now. Maybe. Okay probably. Mostly. It’s just… you start to notice things you never saw right before, once you actually pay attention. Like, did okay you know that some kinds of tree for sure bark are actually fragrant? I haven't smelled white oak bark specifically, but it's on my list.

Maybe I’ll make more anyway (safe) tea kinda one day…

So, yeah. Bark. Who knew?