an that of
the white oak, separating on old trees into rather firm, longitudinal
ridges; bark of branches sometimes developed into conspicuous corky,
wing-like layers; season's shoots yellowish-brown, minutely hairy, with
numerous small, roundish, raised dots.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds brown, 1/16 to 1/8 inch long, conical,
scattered along the shoots and clustered at the enlarged tips. Leaves
simple, alternate, 6-9 inches long, 3-4 inches broad, smooth and dark
green above, lighter and downy beneath; outline obovate to oblong,
varying from irregularly and deeply sinuate-lobed, especially near the
center, to nearly entire, base wedge-shaped; stalk short; stipules
linear, pubescent.

=Inflorescence.=--May. Sterile catkins 3-5 inches long; calyx mostly
5-parted, yellowish-green; divisions linear-oblong, more or less
persistent; stamens 10; anthers yellow, glabrous: pistillate flowers
sessile or short-stemmed; scales reddish; stigma red.

=Fruit.=--Maturing the first season; extremely variable; sessile or
short-stemmed: cup top-shaped to hemispherical, 3/4-2 inches in
diameter, with thick, close, pointed scales, the upper row often
terminating in a profuse or sparing hairy or leafy fringe: acorn ovoid,
often very large, sometimes sunk deeply and occasionally entirely in the
cup.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in New England; in general appearance
resembling the swamp white oak, but better adapted to upland; grows
rather slowly in any good, well-drained soil; difficult to transplant;
seldom disfigured by insects or disease; occasionally grown in
nurseries. Propagated from seed. A narrower-leafed form with small
acorns (var. _olivaeformis_) is occasionally offered.

[Illustration: PLATE XXXIX.--Quercus macrocarpa.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Sterile flower, back view.
4. Sterile flower, front view.
5. Fertile flowers.
6. Fruiting branch.

=Quercus bicolor, Willd.=

_Quercus platanoides, Sudw._

SWAMP WHITE OAK.

=Habitat and Range.=--In deep, rich soil; low, moist, fertile
grounds, bordering swamps and along streams.

Quebec to Ontario, where it is known as the blue oak.

Maine,--York county; New Hampshire,--Merrimac valley as far as the mouth
of the Souhegan, and probably throughout Rockingham county;
Vermont,--low grounds about Lake Champlain; Massachusetts,--frequent in
the western and central sections, common eastward; Rhode Island and
Connecticut,--common.