Florida Forest Trees

Swamp chestnut oak (Quercus michauxii)

Swamp chestnut oak, also called basket or cow oak, is a handsome member of the white oak group known for its large, fuzzy, coarsely toothed leaves and big acorns, some of the largest in Florida.

White-tailed deer, turkey, squirrels, and hogs eat the acorns. Cows eat the acorns , as the common name 'cow oak' suggests.

Like many oaks, swamp chestnut makes a good shade tree with its broad, spreading branches and large foliage.		  

Twigs and leaves

 
The light brown wood is hard, strong, and durable and is used for flooring, veneer, furniture, farming tools, posts, and barrels. It is has also been used to make baskets which is where another of its common names comes from. The quality of the wood is similar to white oak but swamp chestnut oak is not as widespread or abundant as white oak.

Swamp chestnut oaks are found from New Jersey to Florida and throughout the Mississippi River Valley, Illinois, and Ohio.

 Identifying Characteristics
Size/Form:
 Swamp chestnut oak is a large, deciduous tree that averages 60' to 80' in height with a 2' to 3' diameter. In rare cases it may grow as tall as 120' with a 7' diameter. In open areas, the crown is low and widely spreading, but the tree has a more compact form when grown within a forest.
Leaves:
 The leaves are simple, alternately arranged, 4" to 9" long, and 2 ½" to 5" wide. They are obovate, broadest in the middle and above. The leaf base tapers to the petiole and the leaf tip is rounded. The upper leaf surface is lustrous, dark green and smooth while the underside is duller and fuzzy. Leaf margins are coarsely wavy-toothed. Leaves turn crimson in the fall.
Fruit:
 The ovoid acorns are 1" to 1 ½" long and light to dull brown in color. The bowl-like cap covers 1/3 to ½ of the acorn and has distinct, wedge-shaped, triangular scales. Acorns mature in one season and may grow singularly or in clusters of two or three.
Bark:
 The thick, light gray bark is irregularly furrowed with long, narrow scales and shaggy rectangular plates.
Habitat:
 Swamp chestnut oak grows best in moist, poorly drained, bottomland soils where inundation occurs for a short duration. It is a common resident of mesic hardwoods or mixed pine and hardwood stands in bottomland forests, bluffs, ridges, and flatwoods with subsurface limestone.


Photos
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Acorn
Leaf


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