Swamp Chestnut Oak 

Another name for the Swamp Chestnut Oak is the “basket oak,” as fibers from its split wood have long been woven into strong baskets, the type which used to carry cotton from cotton fields. Another common name, the “cow oak,” formed as a result of cows feasting on its sweet-tasting acorns, which provide a staple food source for wildlife such as deer, wild hogs, black bears and squirrels, and are also able to be consumed raw by humans.

The following identification information is from Trees of Alabama, a Gosse Nature Guide by Lisa J. Samuelson. Use of this text was permitted by the University of Alabama. Order your own copy of this great guide to Alabama’s trees here: https://www.amazon.com/Trees-Alabama-Gosse-Nature-Guides/dp/0817359419

Swamp Chestnut Oak Quercus michauxii

COMMON NAMES swamp chestnut oak, cow oak, basket oak 

QUICK GUIDE Leaves alternate, simple, obovate throughout the canopy, margin scalloped with round and callous-tipped teeth; acorn large with a scaly cap; bark gray-brown and scaly.  

DESCRIPTION Leaves are alternate, simple, deciduous, obovate, and 12-22 cm (4.7-8.7 in) long; apex may be abruptly acuminate; base is cuneate to rounded; margin is scalloped with rounded and callous-tipped teeth; underside is pubescent; autumn color is yellow-brown to dull red. Twigs are stout, red-brown to gray-brown, and glabrous to densely pubescent; leaf scar is crescent shaped to oval with numerous bundle scars. Terminal buds are up to 6 mm (0.2 in) long and ovoid; scales are overlapping, red-brown, arid lightly pubescent. Flowers are imperfect and appear in the spring with the leaves; staminate flowers are in drooping catkins; pistillate spikes are in leaf axils. Fruit is an acorn, 2.5-4.0 cm (1.0-1.6 in) long; cap is bowl shaped with pubescent scales and a thin edge covering one-third of the nut; fruit matures in one season. Bark is light gray to gray-brown and scaly. The growth form is up to 30 m (100 ft) in height with a long, straight bole. 

HABITAT Well-drained bottomlands and along the edges of streams and swamps.  

NOTES Swamp chestnut oak is found with red maple, many ashes, sweetgum, bitternut hickory, shagbark hickory, spruce pine, and bottomland oaks. The wood is used as white oak lumber. Thin strips are cut from saplings and used in making baskets. Acorns of all oaks rank at the top of wildlife food plants because of their wide distribution, availability, and palatability, and are considered the staff of life for many wildlife species. Acorns of the white oak group are generally preferred over the red oak group because of lower tannic acid levels. Smaller birds and mammals prefer the species producing the smaller acorns, whereas larger birds and mammals will eat all sizes, including the largest. A partial list of acorn eaters include mallard, black, pintail, and wood ducks; northern bobwhite; wild turkey; flying fox, and gray squirrels; all species of deer; black bear; peccary; raccoon; numerous songbirds; and many small mammals.  

Quercus is Latin for “oak tree”; michauxii is for the French botanist F. Michaux.