VAL-18: Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor)
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Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor)
Common Name: Swamp White Oak
Scientific Name: Quercus bicolor
Other Names: Blue Oak, Swamp Oak.
Leaf: Deciduous; alternate; simple; 12-17 cm long; widest above middle, wedge shaped
base; 4-6 principle veins each ending in a rounded shallow lobe or tooth; shiny dark
green above, pale greyish-green below, strong contrast between two; many white hairs.
Flower: Small; male and female flowers on same tree (unisexual); male flowers are long
catkins, 7.5-10 cm; female flowers in clusters of 1-5.
Fruit: Acorns; solitary or paired; 20-30 mm long; on 2-10 cm stalks; swollen scales cover
half to a third of the nut.
Twig: Reddish-brown; stout; typically hairless.
Bark: Light greyish-brown; scaly; scaly when young, cracked with flat ridges when mature.
Wood: Hard; heavy; close grained; brown; water impermeable; decay resistant.
Facts about this tree
1. Swamp white oaks can live to be about 300 years old. They begin to flower at 25-30
years old, and they produce large crops of acorns every 3-5 years.
2. Swamp white oaks are vulnerable to fire damage because they have shallow roots and
thin bark.
3. The genus name, Quercus, means ‘tree above all others’, while the species name
bicolor refers to the contrasting color between the upper (shiny green) and lower
(fuzzy white) surfaces of the leaves.
4. The Swamp white oak is very rare in Canada. Swamp white oak and bur oak can hybridize,
creating hybrids with intermediate characteristics.
Lat, Long: 43.73900,-79.82184
Diameter (DBH): 9.7 cm
Last Year Modified: 2015
Carbon Stored in this Tree: 13.36 kg of C
Equivalent CO2: 48.98 kg of C
Find more trees in valleywood.
Reference
1. Farrar, J. L. 2007. Trees in Canada. ON. Canadian Forest Service.
2. Linda Kershaw. 2001. Trees of Ontario. Edmonton, AB Canada. Lone Pine Publishing.
3. Photo Credit: Willow (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC
BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or CC BY 2.5
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons.
4. Photo Credit: Bruce Marlin [CC BY-SA 2.5
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons.
5. Photo Credit: MONGO (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
6. Photo Credit: CAFNR. 2014. Retrieved on July 10, 2015 from
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cafnr/15127745481/.
7. Photo Credit: CAFNR. 2014. Retrieved on July 10, 2015 from
https://goo.gl/TayP34.
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