Swamp White Oak
Quercus bicolor Willd.
Chêne bicolore
Range:
Uncommon in Canada.
Found in southern Ontario and southern Quebec.
Leaves:
12-17 cm long, widest above the middle, tapering to a wedge-shaped base.
Principal veins: 4-6 per side, each ending in a rounded shallow lobe or tooth.
Upper surface: shiny dark green.
Lower surface: pale grayish-green with abundant white hairs.
Strong contrast between upper and lower surfaces.
Buds:
Terminal bud rounded, 2-4 mm long, blunt, reddish-brown, and usually hairless.
Lateral buds diverge from the twig.
Twigs:
Stout, reddish-brown, usually hairless.
Fruits:
Acorns 20-30 mm long, solitary or paired, on stalks 2-10 cm long.
Cup covered by swollen scales with recurved tips, enclosing one-third to one-half of the nut.
Fringed margin of the cup is usually evident.
Bark:
Light grayish-brown and scaly.
Becomes fissured with flat ridges as it ages.
Size and Form:
Small to medium-sized tree, up to 22 m high and 90 cm in diameter.
Can live up to 200 years.
Trunk is short and often forked.
Crown is broad, open, and rounded.
Relatively slender branches for an oak.
Upper branches ascend, while lower ones usually droop.
Larger branches and trunk have many small, crooked, hanging branchlets, giving the lower part of the tree an untidy appearance.
Habitat:
Prefers moist bottomlands and swamp edges.
Moderately shade-tolerant.
Quick Recognition:
Leaves are very pale and hairy underneath, with a strong contrast to the green upper surface.
Shallowly lobed, widest above the middle.
Acorns grow on long stalks.
Buds are blunt.
Lower crown appears untidy.
Typically found on moist sites.