Pin Oak Swamp Oak Water Oak

=Habitat and Range.=--Low grounds, borders of forests, wet woods, river

banks, islets in swamps.



Ontario.



Northern New England,--no station reported; Massachusetts,--Amherst

(Stone, Bull. Torrey Club, IX, 57; J. E. Humphrey, Amherst Trees);

Springfield, south to Connecticut, rare; Rhode Island,--southern

portions, bordering the great Kingston swamp, and on the margin of the

Pawcatuck river (L. W. Russell); Connecticut,--common along the sound,

frequent northward, extending along the valley of the Connecticut river

to the Massachusetts line.



South to the valley of the lower Potomac in Virginia; west to

Minnesota, east Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Indian territory.



=Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 40-50 feet high, with trunk diameter of

1-2 feet, occasionally reaching a height of 60-70 feet (L. W. Russell),

but attaining its maximum of 100 feet in height and upward in the basins

of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; trunk rather slender, often fringed

with short, drooping branchlets, lower tier of branches short and mostly

descending, the upper long, slender, and often beset with short, lateral

shoots, which give rise to the common name; head graceful, open, rounded

and symmetrical when young, in old age becoming more or less irregular;

foliage delicate; bright shining green in autumn, often turning to a

brilliant scarlet.



=Bark.=--Bark of trunk dark, furrowed and broken in old trees, in young

trees grayish-brown, smoothish; branchlets shining, light brown.



=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds short, conical, acute. Leaves simple,

alternate, 3-5 inches long, bright green, smooth and shining above,

duller beneath, with tufted hairs in the angles of the veins; outline

broadly obovate to ovate; lobes divergent, triangular, toothed or

entire, bristle-pointed; sinuses broad, rounded; leafstalk slender;

stipules linear, soon falling.



=Inflorescence.=--May. Appearing when the leaves are half grown; sterile

catkins 2-4 inches long; segments of calyx mostly 4 or 5, obtuse or

rounded, somewhat lacerate; stamens mostly 4 or 5, anthers yellow,

glabrous: pistillate flowers with broadly ovate scales; stigmas stout,

red, reflexed.



=Fruit.=--Abundant, maturing the second season, short-stemmed: cup

saucer-shaped, with firm, appressed scales, shallow: acorns ovoid to

globose, about 1/2 inch long, often striate, breadth sometimes equal to

entire length of fruit.



=Horticultural Value.=--Probably hardy throughout New England; grows in

wet soils, but prefers a rich, moist loam; of rapid and uniform

growth, readily and safely transplanted, and but little disfigured by

insects; obtainable in leading nurseries. Propagated from the seed.






1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch.

3. Sterile flower, side view.

4. Fertile flower, side view.

5. Fruiting branch.





=Quercus ilicifolia, Wang.=



Quercus nana, Sarg. Quercus pumila, Sudw.