FAMILY: FAGACEAE
ALTERNATE COMMON NAME: swamp white oak
LEAVES: alternate, simple, deciduous, blades with 5-9 lobes, often asymmetrically lobed, upper pair of lobes more pronounced and often at right angles to midrib (somewhat resembling post oak); bases attenuate; blades dark green and glabrous above, pale to glaucous and sometimes pubescent below
FLOWER: monoecious; staminate inflorescence a catkin 3-4” long, slender, hairy, yellow; pistillate flowers mostly solitary, inconspicuous; flowering in spring
FRUIT: acorn maturing in one season, ovoid to subglobose, ca. 1” broad, apices broadly rounded; caps scaly, enclosing almost the entire acorn
TWIGS: winter buds 1/8”, rounded, with pubescent scales
BARK: gray, rough, thick plates underlying scales
FORM: medium to large tree of the white oak group
HABITAT: bottomlands, poorly-drained clays, subject to prolonged flooding, river and stream banks
WETLAND DESIGNATION: Obligate Wetland (OBL): Almost always occurs in wetlands of the Atlantic and Gulf Coast Plain Region
RANGE: southeast US coastal plains [USGS Range MAP], [MAP]
USES: ornamental, of low commercial timber value, rough lumber; planted for bottomland restoration
WILDLIFE: low whitetail deer browse value; high mast value for ducks, squirrels, and deer
Best Recognition Features:
- acorn cap covers most (often > 75%) of the acorn
- scaly, gray bark
- occurs on sites subject to prolonged flooding (wettest sited oak in our region)
Compared to white
oak, overcup oak:
- has less-evenly lobed leaves
- has overcup acorns
- has less scaly bark
- is found on wetter sites
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