Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor)

Beech Family (Fagaceae)
Swamp white oak is deciduous medium-sized tree, reaching usually 60-80 ft tall, with an upright oval crown in youth to very rounded with age. Its bark is shredding to lightly exfoliating and yellowish brown to gray-brown when young, becoming brown-gray and deeply furrowed and flat-ridged or flaky with overlapping scales with age. The lower branches droop. Its shiny dark green leaves are obovate, with rounded lobes (deep or shallow) or blunt teeth along the margins, and white-haired and light green or silvery white below. The leaves turn coppery to yellowish-brown to red before they fall off. Flowers are unisexual, but on the same plant, and occur in the spring. The yellowish green male flowers are in long catkins, while the small green to red female flowers are in leaf axils. Borne on a long stalk, the usually paired, roundish to oblong, light brown acorns mature in one season. Can live to be 300 to 350 years old. Found in the eastern United States, it usually occurs in moist to swampy woods, moist slopes, stream edges, and poorly drained uplands. Prefers partial shade to full sun and moist to wet acidic soils. Can tolerate drought and be found on drier soils. Used as an ornamental tree. Its strong, durable wood has been used for beams, boards, railroad ties, furniture, and especially floors. Has been used in the treatment of cholera, broken bones, and consumption. Many animals eat its acorns.

Listed as threatened in ME.