The Oaks 



bright red again. The little sweet acorn probably suggested the 

 common name. From its leaves and habit this oak is called 

 the scrub chestnut oak. It occurs from Maine to Minnesota, 

 and south to Alabama and Texas. In the West it seems to in- 

 tergrade with the preceding species. Horticulturally it is a 

 desirable species for covering dry, sterile areas. 



Swamp White Oak {Quercus platanoides, Sudw.) A shaggy 

 picturesque tree, 70 to 100 feet high, with pendulous branches, 

 and crooked twigs forming a narrow, round head, bushy with 

 dead twigs that hang on. Bark pale greyish brown, peeling in 

 thin flakes from branches and trunk. Wood pale brown, coarse 

 grained, heavy, tough, strong. Buds short, blunt, brown, hairy, 

 clustered at tips of twigs. Leaves alternate, obovate, 5 to 7 

 inches long, wedge shaped at base, wavy toothed or lobed regu- 

 larly, dull, dark green above, white-downy beneath. Flowers 

 staminate, hairy, yellow catkins; pistillate few on long peduncles, 

 hairy with red stigmas. Acorns annual, paired, on long stems; 

 nut oval, I to i^ inches long, brown, hairy at tip, in rough cup 

 with thickened scales, sometimes fringed at border; kernel sweet, 

 edible. Preferred habitat, moist or swampy soil. Distribution, 

 southern Maine to southern Iowa; south to Maryland, Kentucky 

 and Arkansas; along mountains into Georgia. Commonest 

 about the Great Lakes. Uses: Picturesque tree in landscape, 

 but rarely planted. Lumber not distinguished commercially 

 from other white oak. Used in construction of houses, boats, 

 agricultural implements and vehicles; also, for fencing, railroad 

 ties and fuel. 



The swamp white oak loves the waterside, and many a 

 noble specimen has been swept away by spring floods or by the 

 gradual undermining of the bank on which it grew. Such was 

 the fate of the famous Wadsworth oak, a landmark in the Genesee 

 Valley in New York State, even when the Indians were the only 

 people there to admire it. A young tree of this species is generally 

 pyramidal and quite symmetrical in form, its stout branches 

 short and horizontal, the lower ones tending to droop. The 

 strength of character, however, the ruggedness that make so 

 strong appeal to us in this tree, comes when it has put by the 

 comeliness of youth and the stern battle of life has left its scars on 

 the veteran. 



Look at a swamp white oak against a winter sky. I mean 



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