Swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor): what the agencies record

This page reports what US federal publications say about one tree. It does not identify trees from descriptions or photos and does not say what should be done with any tree. The family overview, tree species in the agency records, explains the sources and holds the comparison table.

At a glance

Item	What the source records
Scientific name	Quercus bicolor Willd. in USDA PLANTS, beech family
Other names	No other common names are listed in Silvics
Native status, USDA PLANTS	Native in Canada and the lower 48 states
Size, Silvics	Normally 18 to 23 m (60 to 75 ft) tall and 61 to 91 cm (24 to 36 in) in diameter at breast height; trees up to 30 m (100 ft) tall and 213 cm (84 in) across have been reported
Longevity, Silvics	Long lived, reaching 300 to 350 years; the root system is usually shallow
Green weight of the wood, NRS-38	63 lb per cubic foot, without bark

Native range and sites

The Silvics of North America handbook (Agriculture Handbook 654, volume 2, 1990) calls swamp white oak a medium-sized tree of the north central and northeastern mixed forests. It grows from southwestern Maine west to New York, southern Quebec and southern Ontario, to central Michigan, northern Wisconsin and southeastern Minnesota, south to Iowa and Missouri and east to Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and New Jersey, and is scattered in North Carolina and northeastern Kansas. The handbook says it is most common and reaches its largest size in western New York and northern Ohio.

It is a lowland tree found along stream edges and in swamps subject to flooding, on soils with high water tables, mucks and peats, or alluvial soils over a glei layer. These sites flood from time to time and include wide stream valleys, low fields and the edges of lakes, ponds and sloughs, and the handbook says it is not found where flooding is permanent.

Flowers, acorns and growth

Silvics says swamp white oak is monoecious, with male and female flowers appearing on the same tree from May to June at about the time leaves are one-third developed. The acorn matures in one growing season, is generally paired and borne on slender stalks 3 to 8 cm (1.25 to 3.25 in) long, is ovoid, 19 to 32 mm (0.75 to 1.25 in) long and 13 to 19 mm (0.5 to 0.75 in) in diameter, and falls during September and October. The acorns are sweet like others in the white oak group, and a Wisconsin study found they made up 27 percent of the diet of wild ducks.

On better drained lowland soils the handbook says the growth rate is comparable to that of white oak. It normally grows in mixtures with other bottom-land species and is abundant only locally, and individual old-growth trees may contain as much net volume as 3.4 cubic metres (600 board feet).

Wood

Silvics says the hard, strong wood is commercially valuable and is usually cut and sold as white oak. The Wood Handbook (FPL-GTR-282, 2021) describes the white oak group on the white oak page, and its Table 5-3b has a separate swamp white oak row, shown below.

Wood Handbook Table 5-3b	Specific gravity	Modulus of rupture (lbf per square inch)	Side hardness (lbf)
Green	0.64	9,900	1,160
At 12% moisture content	0.72	17,700	1,620

The Wood Handbook states that specific gravity is based on oven-dry weight and the volume when green or at 12% moisture content. The green weight of the wood without bark is in the NRS-38 table, the same figure used in the log weight calculator.

Diseases, insects and damage the handbook names

Silvics (1990) says diseases and insects affecting swamp white oak are essentially the same as those found on white oak, and that windthrow may be a problem, especially in thinned stands.

Oak anthracnose. The handbook says it can be damaging to individual trees but is generally not fatal.
Oak wilt. Swamp white oak is described as susceptible to the oak wilt fungus (Ceratocystis fagacearum); the guides on oak wilt and oak wilt by state and province cover the disease.
Other fungi. In Illinois, Phomopsis canker and Coniothyrium dieback were found on this oak, and an Alternaria fungus was found on blighted petioles.

The guide on reporting a pest in the United States and the Canada reporting page give the offices that take sightings of regulated pests. Who may apply pesticides is in pesticide licences by country.