Swamp chestnut oak

[Tom]

This is the acorn cap, acorn and leaf of the Swamp Chestnut Oak.
It is also called the Basket Oak.

[SwampDonkey]

Well there's one acorn the coons, skunks and possums never got. ;)

Tom, do you see any seedlings growing near by? How common are they in your area?

[Tom]

Every once in a while I find a seedling.  I transplant them out in the open.  They are few and far between though because the wildlife loves them.  I'm afraid that I'm seeing the end of them now.  Some jerk turned hogs loose in the swamp a couple of years ago and they are beginning to dig the place up.

I have, probably, one of the more dense stands in the county. The ridge that runs through the swamp is populated with maybe 5 to 8 an acre.

[SwampDonkey]

That's a fair bunch of oak per acre, all I have is seedlings and saplings of red and scarlet oak and alot more scarce than yours. A bunch of you guys need to sharpen your shootin skills on them Dang hogs.

Somebody is welcome to thin out some of my moose too, it's not like they're scarce around here. Sure hard on my hardwood, but I like to see the darn things to. Can't win for loosing sometimes. :D

[Dan_Shade]

those things grow pretty thick around here.

is the wood of any real interest?

[Tom]

If I have to take one down, I saw it for white oak.   It is more course than most white oaks, but makes a pretty board.

It checks kind of bad sometimes too. 

I have a friend who turns bowls and he's not very fond of it because of the checking.

[Dan_Shade]

this is chestnut oak, i'm pretty sure:



is it a white oak?  I thought chestnut oak was a red oak.

here's the bark on the log: 

[SwampDonkey]

I thought the distinctions where:

red oaks
white oaks
chestnut oaks

??? ??? ??? If the chestnut oaks have mature fruit in one year, then I'de group them with white oaks.

[Tom]

I didn't know that Chestnut Oak was separate classification.

I've been told that Oaks fall in two groups, White and Red.   The example in this thread is a Swamp Chestnut Oak and documentation I've found places it in a classification of White Oaks. 

There are some who believe that Live Oaks should be a classification of their own, but I was originally taught that they were a  White Oak.   A thread on this Forum discusses whether they are White or Red and the fact that they may be true to themselves. 

According to what I read, Swamp Chestnut Oak and Chestnut Oak are two different trees.

[jon12345]

Have ya put it under magnification?  That might give up some more clues  ???

[bull]

I've been paid both red and white price for it..... When  I sell logs to a NH mill i have done buiosness w/ for years, I have to wait until its sawn and I may get red prices, if I don't wait I will get white prices... all depends on the tree and how it grows.... The book says they are white oak.... But I sawn two trees that grew side by side and the were both different on the inside and they were definitely Chestnut oaks.....  Some really beautiful boards though......

[Troy]

The Swamp Chestnut Oak (Quercus michauxii), and the Chestnut Oak (Quercus prinus), are both in the White Oak family.  The biggest distinction of the two is the bark.  Chestnut Oak will form a thick deeply furrowed bark as it ages, as in the example from Dan Shade, Swamp Chestnut Oak on the other hand will have a scaley flaky type bark similar to White Oak. 

[SwampDonkey]

Tom, I was only going by the TextBook of Dendro that makes three categories and the chestnut oaks were a subdivision of white oaks because of leaf shape. So technically there are red and there are white oak. 

[Pullinchips]

Y'all are correct two classifications of oak.  I have never heard that chestnut oaks were there own group.  I always thought and were told that they are white oaks which they are.  The swamp and the regular versions are two different tress, like said the bark is the give away.  Lots of chestnut oaks here in the moutains, hogs and deer and bears love them.

-Nate

Just adding my thoughts to the confusion.

[IL Bull]

Does the swamp chestnut oak have an eatable acorn like the other chestnut oaks? ??? :P (I mean for us humans?)

[Pullinchips]

as far as i know all acorns are etible, some are just more bitter than others.  White oaks taste better and chestnut is a white oak so i assume it should taste better than others.  I have tried q. alba (true w. oak) acorns and thought that they were terrible and bitter.

-nate

[Tom]

I'm told that, soaked in water through many change, takes the tannin out of the nut and makes it edible.  It was usually ground into a flour, not eaten as a nut.

[SwampDonkey]

Pick some pecan hickories, beechnuts or butternuts if you want something off the tree to eat straight away. Although the butternut will make you work hard for it. :D

I've read about acorns used for flour as well.

[Troy]

Tom - Sounds like the makin's of acorn grits!

[Tom]

I hadn't considered that.  hmmmmm

You might have started something.  :D

[Pullinchips]

i have heard my aunt told about acorn bread i guess made from the ground nuts?

-Nate

[Riles]

Here's a story told by my dendro professor just last week. He showed us chestnut oak, cow oak (as swamp chestnut is called here in Louisiana) and Chinese chestnut. First he showed us chestnut oak and the acorn cap is much furrier and larger than the ones showing up in these pictures. His point was that some people mistake it for Chinese chestnut (Castenea spp.). Once you see the two nuts side by side, no problem.

So when he got to Quercus michauxii, he mentioned the flavor quality of white vs red oak acorns and that the southerners made bread from white acorns during the "War of Northern Aggression."  Since bodies of both sides on the battlefield were commonly stripped by scavengers, the bodies of confederate dead could be identified by the fact that they turned brown faster, due to the tannins in the acorn bread.

Your forestry trivia fact for the day.