﻿Trees of New York State 181 



FAGACEAE 



Quercus bicolor Willd. [Quercus platanoides Sudw.] 



Swamp White Oak 



Habit — A tree usually 60-80 feet high when mature ^vith a trunk 2-4 feet 

 in diameter, occasionally under optimum conditions 100 feet tall. In the 

 open the crown is broad, open, and roimd-topped with basal drooping 

 branches which give tlie tree a bizarre appearance. In dense stands the 

 bole is free of branches for some distance, continuing well into the crovna.. 



Leaves — Alternate, obovate or oblong-obovate, 5-6 inches long, 2— i inches 

 Avide, rounded at the apex, cuneate at the base, coarsely sinuate- creuate 

 or occasionally pinuatifid, at maturity thick, firm, dark green and lustrous 

 above, white-hoary below, borne on stout petioles V2-% of an inch long. 



Flowers — Appearing in late May or early June when the leaves are about 

 one-fourth developed, monoecious. Staminate flowers in interrupted, fili- 

 form, pendulous, hairy aments 3-4 inches long which are borne on the 

 growth of the preceding season or from the axils of the inner scales of 

 the terminal bud. Calyx eampanulate, pale yellowish green, pubescent, 

 deeply cut into 5-9 lanceolate segments. Stamens 5-9, with slender fila- 

 ments and glabrous, yellow anthers. Pistillate floAvers in few-flowered, 

 white-tomentose, pedunculate spikes borne in the axUs of the leaves of 

 the season, each subtended by the broadly ovate, hairy involucral scales. 

 Calyx eampanulate, adnata to the ovary, shallowly lobed above. Pistil 

 consisting of a 3-celled (rarely 4-5-celled) ovary surmoimted by 3 short 

 styles stigmatic on their inner surface. 



Fruit — An acorn, borne solitary or in pairs on a long peduncle, ripening the 

 first season. Nut oval or oblong, light chestnut-brown, round-pointed and 

 pubescent at the apex, %-l% inches long, enclosed about one-third of its 

 length in the cup. Cup broadly turbinate, thick, woody, pale broAvn and 

 pubescent within, hoan(--tomentose without, often fringed at the upper 

 margin. 



Winter characters — Twigs stout, pale-lentieellate, smooth or puberulous, 

 yellow or reddish broAAii, at length darker and glaucous. Bark on older 

 branches exfoliating in thin strips. Buds alternate, those near the branch- 

 tip clustered about the terminal bud, broadly ovate, obtuse, pale chestnut- 

 brown, %-% of an inch long. Mature bark grayish brown, thick, divided 

 by deep fissures into long, flat ridges scaly at the surface. 



Habitat — A bottom-land species preferring moist, fertile soils along stream 

 borders, the edges of swamps, and low, poorly drained pastures. 



Range — Maine west to Michigan and eastern Iowa, south to Georgia and 

 Arkansas. Zones A, B, and C. 



Uses — Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, pale brown with lighter 

 sapwood. It compares- favorably with that of White Oak and is used for 

 similar purposes, but is more inclined to knots. 



