FAGACEAE
Swamp White Oak. Swamp Oak
Quercus bicolor Willd. [Quercus platanoides (Lam.) Sudw.]
HABIT.—A large tree 50-70 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 2-3 feet; forming a rather open, rugged crown of tortuous, pendulous branches and short, stiff, bushy spray.
LEAVES.—Alternate, simple, 5-7 inches long, 3-5 inches broad; obovate to oblong-obovate; coarsely sinuate-crenate or shallow-lobed; thick and firm; dark green and shining above, whitish and more or less tomentose beneath; petioles stout, about 1/2 inch long.
FLOWERS.—May, with the leaves; monoecious; the staminate in hairy catkins 3-4 inches long; the pistillate tomentose, on long, tomentose peduncles, in few-flowered spikes; calyx deeply 5-9-lobed, yellow-green, hairy; corolla 0; stamens 5-8, with yellow anthers; stigmas bright red.
FRUIT.—Autumn of first season; acorns on pubescent stems 1-4 inches long, usually in pairs; cup cup-shaped, with scales somewhat loose (rim often fringed), inclosing one-third of the nut; nut ovoid, light brown, pubescent at the apex, about 1 inch long; kernel white, sweet, edible.
WINTER-BUDS.—Terminal bud 1/8 inch long, broadly ovoid to globose, obtuse; scales light brown, pilose above the middle.
BARK.—Twigs at first lustrous, green, becoming red-brown, finally dark brown and separating into large, papery scales which curl back; thick, gray-brown on the trunk, deeply fissured into broad, flat, scaly ridges.