SWAMP CHESTNUT OAK

363 Vescovo Dr.

Swamp Chestnut Oak (Quercus michauxii)

Quercus michauxii, the swamp chestnut oak, is a species of oak in the white oak group. 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. The swamp chestnut oak closely resembles the chestnut oak (QUercus montana), and for that reason has sometimes been treated as a variety of that species. However, the swamp chestnut oak is a larger tree that differes in preferred habitat, and the bark does not have the distinctive deep, rugged ridging of the chestnut oak, being thinner, scaly, and paler gray. It typically grows to around 65 feet tall. The leaves of the swamp chestnut oak are simple (not compound), 4-11 inches long and 2-7 inches broad, with 15-20 lobe-like, rounded simple teet on each side. The leaves turn red in autumn. Its acorns are 1-1.5 inches long and .75-1 inch wide, maturing in the fall about 6 months after pollination. They are relatively sweet and edible, readily eaten by cattle, leading to the species sometimes being referred to a the “cow oak” for this reason. In Avon Woods, the acorns are more likely to be eaten by chipmunks, squirrels, and some birds.