Swamp white oak

Leaves

Form

• Tapering to a wedge-shaped base
• Principal veins 4–6 per side
• Each vein ends in a rounded shallow lobe or tooth
• Lower surface has abundant hairs

Length

• 12–17 cm

Width

• Widest above the middle

Colour

• Upper surface shiny dark green
• Lower surface pale greyish-green
• Hairs white
• Strong contrast in colour between upper and lower surfaces

Margin

• Toothed

Buds

Form

• Terminal bud rounded
• Blunt, usually hairless
• Lateral buds diverging from the twig

Length

• Terminal bud 2–4 mm

Colour

• Reddish-brown

Twigs

Form

• Stout, hairless

Colour

• Reddish-brown

Flowers

Form

• Pollen flowers small
• In many-flowered drooping catkins
• Seed flowers small
• Solitary or in few-flowered clusters (spikes)

Structure

• Monoecious

Floral timing

• With the leaves

Fruits

Form

• Acorns solitary or paired
• Cup covered by swollen scales with recurved tips
• Enclosing one-third to one-half of the nut
• Fringed margin of cup usually evident

Length

• Acorns 20–30 mm
• Stalks 2–10 cm

Structure

• 1-seeded nut

Bark

Form

• Scaly
• With age fissured with flat ridges

Colour

• Light greyish-brown

Size

Height

• To 22 m

Diameter

• To 90 cm

Maximum age

• 200 years

Tree form

Forest-grown

Trunk

• Short, forked

Crown

• Broad, open, rounded
• Relatively slender branches for an oak
• Upper branches ascending
• Lower branches usually drooping
• Larger branches and trunk with many small, crooked,
• hanging branchlets
• Making lower part of tree appear untidy

Habitat

Site

• Moist bottomlands
• Edges of swamps

Light tolerance

• Moderately shade-tolerant

Range

Uncommon in Canada
Southern Ontario and southern Quebec