>\\ IMP w 111 1 1: \K 

 bicolor Willtl. 



I lie Oak Familj 



I \(, \C! M 



Habit and Habitat: A medium-sized u< feet tall, with ■ 



trunk diameter of 12-30 inches, usually smaller with us; the open, 

 round-topped rugged crown is formed of many tortuous. penduJ 



and short, stiff, bushy spray. Prefers rich, moist 

 it finds along streams and bordering swamps, hence the common nan. 



Leaves and Buds: Leaves alternate, Bimple, &-7 inches long, 

 to oblong-obovate, gradually narrowed and wedge-shaped at tin- ba 

 margin coarsely, wavy-toothed or shallow-lobed, the lobes and 

 tations rounded, thick and firm, dark green and shiny above, whitish an I 

 more or loss hairy beneath, yellow in the autumn. Petiol 

 inch 1 rooved, flattened. Buds pah. chestnut-brown, broadly ovoid 



to glol ales long-hairy especially above tin middle, U-'i 



inch Ion. 



Flowers and Fruits: Flowers produced in .May when the leavea are 

 about hah* grown; staminate in drooping, hairy catkins ''-4 inches loi 



calyx yellow-green, bV9-lobed, hairy, stamens 5-8, yellow; pistillate 

 flowers hairy, borne singly or in few-flowered, inconspicuous dust' 

 upon short stalks in the axils of the young leaves, rusty-hairy; stiirmas 

 red. Acorns on long, pubescent stalks, often in pairs, stalks 1-1 inches 

 long; cup cup-shaped, with more or less loose, light brown scales, in- 

 closing one-third of the nut or acorn; nut ovoid, light brown, hairy at the 

 tip, about 1 inch lonjjr. kernel white, edible. 



Bark. Twigs and Wood: Bark gray-brown, deeply fissured into 



ad. flat, scaly ridges; branches greenish-gray; twigs at first smooth, 

 shiny, green, becoming reddish-brown, finally dark brown and some- 

 times separating into papery, curly si/ales. Wood hard, heavy, tough, 

 str< -rained, lipht brown with thin, scarcely diatinguishal 



sapwood, checks in drying; used for about the same purpose 

 tk. 



Distribution in the State: This is another one of our rare nat . 

 oaks which has come into Nebraska from the forests, of Iowa and Mis- 

 souri where it is more or less common. The swamp white oak is 

 not very common or abundant anywhere although it is found through 

 the northern United States and southeastern Canada east of Nebraska 

 and Kansas. It has entered the southeastern corner of our state and I 

 ome distributed from Richardson county northward along the M 

 souri river to Casa county. Map 20, 



Remarks: The swamp white oak is quite rare in the restricted 

 ranjro of the apeciea in this state and further investigation ia i iry 



to (dearly establish its farthest point of penetration. It is a tine ill , 



ion, which is also shown by many other eastern trees which have 

 barely entered Nebraska, of the behavior of a plant on the limits of its 

 raive. and it pntrays many ii I ng lessons concerning ti '< r ical 



relations between different tea of plants and between different 



types of plant associations. Tin- wood of this apeciea quite closely i 

 ■ambles that of white oak and bur oak from which it is not diatinguisl 



mercially. I shall welcome herbarium material of th: 

 this stat 



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