OAK. 293 
Fruit usually in pairs and matures the first year; borne on 
slender erect peduncles from one and one-half to two and one- 
half inches long. The rather deep cup incloses about one-third 
of the acorn, which is oblong-oval in form and about one inch 
long. Bark, gray, flaky, especially on young trees or branches. 
A large tree, attaining commonly a height of about seventy 
feet in this section, with a diameter of three or four feet. Easily 
recognized by the flaky bark of the young growth and the small 
dwarfed, twisted and generally pendulous branches, which often 
occur on the larger limbs and trunk. 
Distribution.—From Maine to Minnesota and Missouri, and 
from Ontario south to northern Kentucky and Arkansas, where 
it is generally found along the borders of streams and swamps, 
in moist, fertile soil. 
Propagation.—By seed, as for white oak. 
Properties of wood.—Heavy, hard, strong and tough; liable to 
check badly in seasoning. Color light brown, with sapwood of 
about the same shade. Durable in contact with the soil. Spe- 
cific gravity 0.7662; weight of a cubic foot 47.75. 
Uses.—The Swamp White Oak is excellent for carriage build- 
ing, cooperage, agricultural implements, railway ties, fence posts, 
cabinetmaking, interior finish of houses and for fuel. 
Quercus macrocarpa. Bur Oak. Mossy-Cup Oak. Bur 
White Oak. 
Leaves large, ovate or oblong, lyrate-pinnatifid or deeply 
sinuate-lobed or parted, the lobes sparingly toothed or entire, 
irregular, downy or pale beneath and bright green above, turn- 
ing to a dull yellow before falling in autumn. Cup (cupule) 
deep, thick, woody, conspicuously imbricated with hard, thick 
pointed scales, the upper ones generally awned so as to make 
a mossy, fringed border, but this is occasionally lacking. 
Acorns ovoid, almost spherical, half or wholly inclosed by the 
cup. Bark rougher and darker colored than that of the White 
Oak. A large tree, varying greatly in form, sometimes growing 
100 feet high and six or seven feet through the trunk, but in 
this section seldom over seventy feet high and three feet 
through. 
Distribution.—From New Brunswick and Nova Scotia west- 
ward to Manitoba, Montana and Kansas, and southwestward to 
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