Flora of North America species comparison

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Quercus bicolor

chêne bicolore, swamp white oak
Habit Trees, deciduous, to 30 m. Bark dark gray, scaly or flat-ridged.
Twigs

light brown or tan, 2-3(-4) mm diam., glabrous.
Buds

light or dark brown, globose to ovoid, 2-3 mm, glabrous.
Leaves

blade obovate to narrowly elliptic or narrowly obovate, (79-)120-180(-215) × (40-)70-110(-160) mm, base narrowly cuneate to acute, margins regularly toothed, or entire with teeth in distal 1/2 only, or moderately to deeply lobed, or sometimes lobed proximally and toothed distally, secondary veins arched, divergent, (3-)5-7 on each side, apex broadly rounded or ovate;

surfaces abaxially light green or whitish, with minute, flat, appressed-stellate hairs and erect, 1-4-rayed hairs, velvety to touch, adaxially dark green, glossy, glabrous.
Acorns

1-3(-5) mm, on thin axillary peduncle (20-)40-70 mm;

cup hemispheric or turbinate, 10-15 mm deep × 15-25 mm wide, enclosing 1/2-3/4 nut, scales closely appressed, finely grayish tomentose, those near rim of cup often with short, stout, irregularly recurved and sometimes branched, spinose awns emerging from tubercle;

nut light brown, ovoid-ellipsoid or oblong, (12-)15-21(-25) × 9-18 mm, glabrous.
Cotyledons

distinct.
2n

= 24.

Quercus bicolor
Phenology Flowering in spring.
Habitat Low swamp forests, moist slopes, poorly drained uplands
Elevation 0-1000 m (0-3300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; CT; DE; IA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Putative hybrids between Quercus bicolor and Q. macrocarpa are common in areas of contact. The hybrids tend to have more deeply lobed leaves and varying degrees of development of awns as a fringe along the margin of the acorn cup. Such characteristics occur sporadically throughout many populations of Q. bicolor; in some cases they may occur because of subtle introgression.

The Iroquois used Quercus bicolor in the treatment of cholera, broken bones, consumption, and as a witchcraft medicine (D. E. Moerman 1986).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus
Sibling taxa
Q. acerifolia, Q. agrifolia, Q. ajoensis, Q. alba, Q. arizonica, Q. arkansana, Q. austrina, Q. berberidifolia, Q. boyntonii, Q. buckleyi, Q. carmenensis, Q. chapmanii, Q. chihuahuensis, Q. chrysolepis, Q. coccinea, Q. cornelius-mulleri, Q. depressipes, Q. douglasii, Q. dumosa, Q. durata, Q. ellipsoidalis, Q. emoryi, Q. engelmannii, Q. falcata, Q. fusiformis, Q. gambelii, Q. garryana, Q. geminata, Q. georgiana, Q. graciliformis, Q. gravesii, Q. grisea, Q. havardii, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. hinckleyi, Q. hypoleucoides, Q. ilicifolia, Q. imbricaria, Q. incana, Q. inopina, Q. intricata, Q. john-tuckeri, Q. kelloggii, Q. laceyi, Q. laevis, Q. laurifolia, Q. lobata, Q. lyrata, Q. macrocarpa, Q. margarettae, Q. marilandica, Q. michauxii, Q. minima, Q. mohriana, Q. montana, Q. muehlenbergii, Q. myrtifolia, Q. nigra, Q. oblongifolia, Q. oglethorpensis, Q. pacifica, Q. pagoda, Q. palmeri, Q. palustris, Q. phellos, Q. polymorpha, Q. prinoides, Q. pumila, Q. pungens, Q. robur, Q. robusta, Q. rubra, Q. rugosa, Q. sadleriana, Q. shumardii, Q. similis, Q. sinuata, Q. stellata, Q. tardifolia, Q. texana, Q. tomentella, Q. toumeyi, Q. turbinella, Q. vacciniifolia, Q. vaseyana, Q. velutina, Q. viminea, Q. virginiana, Q. wislizenii
Synonyms Q. bicolor var. angustifolia, Q. bicolor var. cuneiformis, Q. bicolor var. platanoides, Q. platanoides
Name authority Willdenow: in G. H. E. Muhlenberg, Ges. Naturf. Freunde Berlin Neue Schriften 3: 396. (1801)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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