The Swamp Oak bears resemblance in many points to the White Oak; but it
has less breadth, and abounds in strangling branches growing from the
trunk just below the junction of the principal boughs. This gnarled and
contorted growth is one of the picturesque appendages of the Swamp Oak,
distinguishing it from all the other species, and rendering it an
important feature in a wild and rugged landscape. This cluster does not,
like the vinery of the elm, clothe the whole extent of the bole, but
resembles an inferior whorl of branches below the principal head. Above
it, the tree forms rather a cylindrical head, and the principal branches
are short compared with those of other oaks.
The leaves of this tree bear some resemblance to those of the chestnut.
They are almost entire, and bluntly serrated, rather than scalloped.
They are of a slightly reddish green when mature, and turn to a
leather-color in the autumn. Trees of this species are at the present
time very prominent objects of the landscape in Eastern Massachusetts,
where they are very frequent in half-cleared lands that lie only a
little above the sea level and contain considerable clay. The Swamp Oak
in some favorable soils attains great size; but in New England, though
an interesting object in scenery, it is only a tree of second magnitude.
The Chestnut Oak is not uncommon around New Bedford and many other parts
of New England, but it is not an inhabitant of the woods near Boston.