136 FOREST TREES. 
and wherever durable timber is desired. The valu- 
able properties of its wood indicate this species as one 
of those deserving propagation in the forests of the 
United States. 
4. Quercus prinus—Swamp Chestnut Oak. 
Leaves, obovate, or oblong-obovate, coarsely- 
toothed, downy beneath, smooth above; cup, hemi- 
spherical, thick-tubercled, one-third the length of the 
acorn. 
This species of Oak is found growing in low 
grounds, from Pennsylvania southward. It is a 
large, lofty and beautiful tree. It grows to the 
height of eighty or ninety feet, with a trunk of uni- 
form diameter for fifty feet. Its timber is inferior to 
that of the preceding three species, but better than 
most of those of biennial fructification. It grows 
almost exclusively in rich bottom lands. 
Variety Q. p. monticola (Rock Chestnut Oak), 
grows in rocky or hilly woodlands, mostly along the 
Alleghanies. The wood is so heavy as to sink in 
water, and is of superior quality to the species. 
Variety Q. p. discolor (Swamp White Oak), leaves 
unequally and more deeply sinunate-toothed, often 
almost sinuate-pinnatifid, whitish downy beneath, 
bright green above; cup with the scales more 
pointed, the upper sometimes awned, and forming a 
fringed margin; acorns, one inch or less long. This 
is a marked variety, found farther north than the 
Chestnut Oak, and affords wood of a better quality. 
It is found in low grounds throughout the State of 
