FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Note lighter undersides of 7-lobed leaves and distinctive acorns when present. Leaves quite narrow in middle.
Description: Medium to large deciduous tree up to 30 m tall.
Leaves: Alternate, usually 7-lobed and obovate in general outline, although variable. Leaves pale on undersides; 12 to 23 cm long and up to 12 cm wide.
Flowers/Fruit: Flowers are catkins. Acorns globose or slightly flattened with the nut almost completely covered by a ragged scaly cup, earning the name, "overcup." Flowers March/April; acorns mature September/October of the same year.
Habit and Range: Bottomlands, swamps, floodplains and ephemeral wetlands in the Coastal Plain and Piedmont.