Swamp White Oak

The Swamp white oak, Quercus bicolor, is a native tree to Ohio and is very common throughout the Midwest. They prefer direct sunlight and grow best in wet soil. When compared to other oaks, the Swamp White Oak’s leaves have a greater difference in leaf color from front to back. This Swamp White Oak was acquired by The Dawes Arboretum in 1941. Many of our Swamp White Oaks were acquired by The Arboretum from the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station in Wooster, Ohio by Edmund Secrest, the first State Forester of Ohio. 

On April 26, 1975, William Lancelot Dawes, a cousin of the Dawes’ from England originally dedicated a Franklinia. The American Dawes family first came back into contact with their English family during World War I, when Charles G. Dawes served in Europe with the American Expeditionary Force. “Slotty,” as he was referred to by his cousins, was just as active in business as his American family, overseeing the British family’s shipping operations. He would compete in the 1960 Rome Olympics for Great Britian, appearing in the Flying Dutchman competition with his crewmate James Ramus in the ship Beaver, finishing in seventh place. Slotty would also win the 1937 National Hunt Chase, a prominent horse race. He shares his name with William Dawes, a rider with Paul Revere in Boston, and to whom this tree was dedicated.  

All collections materials are property of The Dawes Arboretum and available upon scheduled request.