FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Distinctive thin, crenate leaves. This oak has light gray, flattened-scaly bark and leaves are usually pubescent.
Synonym(s): Quercus houstoniana, Quercus prinus
Description: Large deciduous tree, to 25 m, with thick branches projecting at sharp angles to form a round-topped crown.
Leaves: Alternate, obovate (in general outline) with crenate or shallow-lobed margins. Top of leaves dark green but not shiny, and undersides gray to rust-colored and sparsely pubescent. Leaf size variable; typically about 18 cm long and 10 cm wide.
Flowers/Fruit: Flowers are catkins. Acorn relatively large (about 3 cm long) with cup enclosing a third of the nut; acorn stem rarely more than 1 cm. Flowers April/May; acorns mature September/October of the same year.
Habit and Range: Brownwater floodplain forests, ephemeral wetlands, seldom flooded wet woods in the Coastal Plain and lower Piedmont. Usually absent from blackwater floodplains.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Quercus michauxii (swamp chestnut oak) is similar to Q. montana (chestnut oak), which grows in rocky uplands and has dark, deeply furrowed bark. Q. michauxii is also similar to the rare Q. bicolor (swamp white oak), which has thick, shiny, slightly more deeply lobed leaves with pale green or greenish-white undersides. Acorns of Q. bicolor are held on long stems.
