Quercus bicolor

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Swamp white oak
Quercus bicolor morton acc 71-69-2.jpg
Morton Arboretum acc. 71-69-2
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [2]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fagales
Family: Fagaceae
Genus: Quercus
Subgenus: Quercus subg. Quercus
Section: Quercus sect. Quercus
Species:
Q. bicolor
Binomial name
Quercus bicolor
Quercus bicolor range map 1.png
Natural range
Synonyms [4] [5]
List
  • Quercus bicolor var. angustifoliaDippel
  • Quercus bicolor var. cuneiformisDippel
  • Quercus bicolor var. platanoides(Castigl.) A.DC
  • Quercus discolor var. bicolor(Willd.) Hampton
  • Quercus mollis Raf.
  • Quercus paludosa Petz. & G.Kirchn.
  • Quercus platanoides (Castigl) Sudworth
  • Quercus prinus var. bicolor(Willd.) Spach
  • Quercus prinus var. discolorF.Michx
  • Quercus prinus var. platanoidesCastigl.
  • Quercus prinus var. tomentosa Michx.
  • Quercus filiformisMuhl. ex A.DC., not validly published
  • Quercus pannosaBosc ex A.DC., not validly published
  • Quercus platanoides (Lam.) Sudw.
  • Quercus velutinaL'Hér. ex A.DC.

Quercus bicolor, the swamp white oak, is a North American species of medium-sized trees in the beech family. It is a common element of America's north central and northeastern mixed forests. It can survive in a variety of habitats. It forms hybrids with bur oak where they occur together in the wild.

Contents

Description

Quercus bicolor grows rapidly and can reach 18 to 24 meters (60 to 80 feet) tall with the tallest known reaching 29 m (95 ft) and lives up to 285 years. [6] The bark resembles that of the white oak. The leaves are broad ovoid, 12–18 centimetres (4+34–7 inches) long and 7–11 cm (2+344+14 in) broad, always more or less glaucous on the underside, and are shallowly lobed with five to seven lobes on each side, intermediate between the chestnut oak and the white oak. In autumn, they turn brown, yellow-brown, or sometimes reddish, but generally, the color is not as reliable or as brilliant as the white oak can be. The fruit is a peduncled acorn, 1.5–2 cm (5834 in), rarely 2.5 cm (1 in), long and 1–2 cm (3834 in) broad, maturing about six months after pollination. [7] Good crops of swamp white oak occur every 3 to 5 years, with light crops during intervening years. The minimum seed-bearing age is 20 years, optimum age is 75 to 200 years, and maximum age is usually 300 years. Because the seed of swamp white oak is not dormant, it germinates soon after falling. Seed collections should be made soon after ripening in order to delay early germination. These acorns are difficult to store without germination or loss of viability occurring. Sound acorns have a germinative capacity between 78 and 98 percent. Gravity, rodents, and water are the primary dispersing agents (4,10). [8]

Swamp white oak may live up to 300 years.

Distribution and habitat

Swamp white oak, a lowland tree, occurs across the eastern and central United States and eastern and central Canada, from Maine to South Carolina, west as far as Ontario, Minnesota, and Tennessee with a few isolated populations in Nebraska and Alabama. This species is most common and reaches its largest size in western New York and northern Ohio. [9] [10]

The swamp white oak generally occurs singly in four different forest types: black ash–American elm–red maple, silver maple–American elm, bur oak, and pin oak–sweetgum. Occasionally the swamp white oak is abundant in small areas. It is found within a very wide range of mean annual temperatures from 16 to 4 °C (61 to 39 °F). Extremes in temperature vary from 41 to −34 °C (106 to −29 °F). Average annual precipitation is from 640 to 1,270 millimetres (25 to 50 in). The frost-free period ranges from 210 days in the southern part of the growing area to 120 days in the northern part. The swamp white oak typically grows on hydromorphic soils. It is not found where flooding is permanent, although it is usually found in broad stream valleys, low-lying fields, and the margins of lakes, ponds, or sloughs. It occupies roughly the same ecological niche as pin oak, which seldom lives longer than 100 years, but is not nearly as abundant.

Uses

It is one of the more important white oaks for lumber production. The wood is similar to that of Q. alba and is not differentiated from it in the lumber trade. In recent years, the swamp white oak has become a popular landscaping tree due to its relative ease of transplanting. This is the species that was chosen to be planted around the 911 Memorial Site in Manhattan.

Being in the white oak group, wildlife such as deer, bears, turkeys, ducks, and geese as well as other animals are attracted to this tree when acorns are dropping in the fall.

Cultivars

A mix of Quercus robur fastigiata x Quercus bicolor, named 'Nadler' or the Kindred Spirit hybrid oak, exists.

Related Research Articles

<i>Quercus montana</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus montana, the chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak group, Quercus sect. Quercus. It is native to the eastern United States, where it is one of the most important ridgetop trees from southern Maine southwest to central Mississippi, with an outlying northwestern population in southern Michigan. It is also sometimes called rock oak because of its presence in montane and other rocky habitats.

<i>Quercus alba</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus alba, the white oak, is one of the preeminent hardwoods of eastern and central North America. It is a long-lived oak, native to eastern and central North America and found from Minnesota, Ontario, Quebec, and southern Maine south as far as northern Florida and eastern Texas. Specimens have been documented to be over 450 years old.

<i>Quercus palustris</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus palustris, also called pin oak, swamp oak, or Spanish oak, is a tree in the red oak section of the genus Quercus. Pin oak is one of the most commonly used landscaping oaks in its native range due to its ease of transplant, relatively fast growth, and pollution tolerance.

<i>Quercus muehlenbergii</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus muehlenbergii, the chinquapinoak, is a deciduous species of tree in the white oak group. The species was often called Quercus acuminata in older literature. Quercus muehlenbergii is native to eastern and central North America. It ranges from Vermont to Minnesota, south to the Florida panhandle, and west to New Mexico in the United States. In Canada it is only found in southern Ontario, and in Mexico it ranges from Coahuila south to Hidalgo.

<i>Quercus velutina</i> Species of oak tree

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<i>Quercus macrocarpa</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus macrocarpa, the bur oak or burr oak, is a species of oak tree native to eastern North America. It is in the white oak section, Quercus sect. Quercus, and is also called mossycup oak, mossycup white oak, blue oak, or scrub oak. The acorns are the largest of any North American oak, and are important food for wildlife.

<i>Quercus michauxii</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus michauxii, the swamp chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak section Quercus section Quercus in the beech family. It is native to bottomlands and wetlands in the southeastern and midwestern United States, in coastal states from New Jersey to Texas, inland primarily in the Mississippi–Ohio Valley as far as Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana.

<i>Quercus laevis</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus laevis, the turkey oak, is a member of the red oak group of oaks. It is native to the southeastern United States. The name turkey oak derives from the resemblance of the leaves to a turkey's foot. A Turkish and southern European species Quercus cerris is also commonly referred to as Turkey oak, so Quercus laevis is sometimes referred to as American turkey oak to distinguish it from the European species.

<i>Quercus laurifolia</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus laurifolia is a medium-sized semi-evergreen oak in the red oak section Quercus sect. Lobatae. It is native to the southeastern and south-central the United States.

<i>Quercus shumardii</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus shumardii, the Shumard oak, spotted oak, Schneck oak, Shumard red oak, or swamp red oak, is one of the largest of the oak species in the red oak group. It is closely related to Quercus buckleyi, Quercus texana, and Quercus gravesii.

<i>Quercus gambelii</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus gambelii, with the common name Gambel oak, is a deciduous small tree or large shrub that is widespread in the foothills and lower mountains of western North America. It is also regionally called scrub oak, oak brush, and white oak.

<i>Quercus coccinea</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus coccinea, the scarlet oak, is a deciduous tree in the red oak section Lobatae of the genus Quercus, in the family Fagaceae.

<i>Quercus ellipsoidalis</i> Species of oak tree

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<i>Quercus acutissima</i> Species of oak tree

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<i>Quercus phellos</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus phellos, the willow oak, is a North American species of a deciduous tree in the red oak group of oaks. It is native to the south-central and eastern United States.

<i>Quercus lyrata</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus lyrata, the overcup oak, is an oak in the white oak group. The common name, overcup oak, refers to its acorns that are mostly enclosed within the acorn cup. It is native to lowland wetlands in the eastern and south-central United States, in all the coastal states from New Jersey to Texas, inland as far as Oklahoma, Missouri, and Illinois. There are historical reports of it growing in Iowa, but the species appears to have been extirpated there. It is a slow-growing tree that often takes 25 to 30 years to mature. It has an estimated lifespan of 400 years.

<i>Quercus nigra</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus nigra, the water oak, is an oak in the red oak group, native to the eastern and south-central United States, found in all the coastal states from New Jersey to Texas, and inland as far as Oklahoma, Kentucky, and southern Missouri. It occurs in lowlands and up to 450 meters in elevation.

<i>Quercus ilicifolia</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus ilicifolia, commonly known as bear oak or scrub oak, is a small shrubby oak native to the Eastern United States and, less commonly, in southeastern Canada. Its range in the United States extends from Maine to North Carolina, with reports of a few populations north of the international frontier in Ontario. The name ilicifolia means "holly-leaved."

<i>Quercus pagoda</i> Species of oak tree

Quercus pagoda, the cherrybark oak, is one of the most highly valued red oaks in the southern United States. It is larger and better formed than southern red oak and commonly grows on more moist sites. Its strong wood and straight form make it an excellent timber tree. Many wildlife species use its acorns as food, and cherrybark oak makes a fine shade tree. Cherrybark oak was formerly considered to be a subspecies of southern red oak, Quercus falcata, subsp pagodifolia.

References

  1. Kenny, L.; Wenzell, K.; Jerome, D. (2017). "Quercus bicolor". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2017: e.T194069A111189345. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-2.RLTS.T194069A111189345.en . Retrieved 18 November 2021.
  2. "NatureServe Explorer" . Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  3. First described in Muhlenberg, Heinrich Ernst (1801). "Kurze Bemerkungen über die in der Gegend von Lancaster in Nordamerika wachsenden Arten der Gattungen Juglans, Fraxinus und Quercus" [Short remarks on the plants growing in the region of Lancaster in North America from the genera Juglans, Fraxinus, and Quercus]. Der Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin, Neue Schriften. 3. With remarks by Carl Ludwig Willdenow: 396.
  4. "Quercus bicolor". Tropicos . Missouri Botanical Garden.
  5. "Quercus bicolor". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew via The Plant List. Note that this website has been superseded by World Flora Online
  6. "Eastern OLDLIST of maximum tree ages".
  7. Nixon, Kevin C. (1997). "Quercus bicolor". In Flora of North America Editorial Committee (ed.). Flora of North America North of Mexico (FNA). Vol. 3. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press via eFloras.org, Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.
  8. "Swamp White Oak".
  9. Rogers, Robert (1990). "Quercus bicolor". In Burns, Russell M.; Honkala, Barbara H. (eds.). Hardwoods. Silvics of North America. Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: United States Forest Service (USFS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 14 December 2009 via Southern Research Station.
  10. "Quercus bicolor". County-level distribution map from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.