Part 49

Distinguishing Features: The Swamp White Oak is distinguished by its leaves which are coarsely round-toothed and softly white hairy on the lower surface of the leaves.

SCARLET OAK Quercus coccinea Muench.

Growth Form: Medium tree to 70 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 2½ feet; crown narrow but open.

Bark: Reddish-brown, shallowly fissured when mature.

Twigs: Slender, brown, smooth; leaf scars alternate, but crowded near the tip, half-round, slightly elevated, with several bundle traces; pith star-shaped in cross-section.

Buds: Pointed, reddish-brown, hairy at the tip, up to ¼ inch long.

Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades divided more than half-way to the middle into 5-7 bristle-tipped lobes, bright green, shiny and smooth on the upper surface, paler and with tufts of hairs along the veins on the lower surface, up to 6½ inches long and 4 inches broad; leafstalks up to 2½ inches long, slender, usually smooth.

Flowers: Staminate and pistillate borne separately, but on the same tree, appearing when the leaves begin to unfold, minute, without petals, the staminate in slender, drooping catkins, the pistillate in groups of 1 or 2.

Fruit: Acorns solitary or paired, with or without stalks, the nut oval or hemispherical, up to ¾ inch across, reddish-brown with occasional darker rings around it, enclosed up to ½ its length by the cup, the cup thin, top-shaped, reddish-brown, finely hairy.

Wood: Hard, heavy, coarse-grained, pale brown.

Uses: Fuel, fence posts, coarse construction.

Habitat: Dry woods.

Range: Maine to southern Ontario, south to Oklahoma, east to Georgia.

Distinguishing Features: Scarlet Oak looks very much like Pin Oak, but differs in habitat and structure of the acorn cup. It sometimes resembles Black Oak but has shorter, less hairy buds and acorns without loosely arranged scales on the cup.

HILL’S OAK Quercus ellipsoidalis E. J. Hill

Other Name: Northern Pin Oak.

Growth Form: Moderate tree to about 75 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 2 feet; crown rounded, with the drooping lowermost branches often reaching nearly to the ground.

Bark: Gray-black, rather smooth to shallowly fissured.

Twigs: Rather slender, smooth at maturity, grayish-brown to reddish-brown; pith star-shaped in cross-section; leaf scars alternate, but clustered near the tip of the twig, half-round, slightly elevated, with several bundle traces.

Buds: Nearly smooth, one-fourth inch long, ovoid, reddish-brown.

Leaves: Alternate, simple; blades 3-9 inches long, slightly tapering or usually cut nearly straight across at the base, with 2-4 pairs of bristle-tipped lobes usually cut over half-way to the mid-vein, deep green and shiny on the upper surface at maturity; leafstalks smooth, up to 3 inches long.

Flowers: Staminate and pistillate on same tree, appearing as the leaves unfold, inconspicuous, the staminate crowded in a catkin, the pistillate solitary or 2-3 together.

Fruit: Ripening in October of the second year, on very short stalks; acorns longer than broad, short-pointed at the base, about ½ inch across, the cup bowl-shaped covering ⅓ to ½ of the acorn.

Wood: Heavy, hard, strong, pale brown.

Uses: Shingles and interior finishings.

Habitat: Dry upland woods, often where Black Oak occurs.

Range: Northwestern Ohio and central Michigan to southeastern Minnesota, south to eastern Iowa and north-central Illinois.

Distinguishing Features: The elongated acorn of the Hill’s Oak distinguishes it from pin oak, which it closely resembles.