Swamp White Oak

Stipple engraving showing leaves, acorn, and tip of a branch of the swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor), a tree in the family Fagaceae native to North America. This tree is described as follows by the author:

The swamp white oak is a beautiful tree, more than 70 feet (21 m) in height, of which the vegetation is vigorous and the foliage luxuriant. The leaves are 6 or 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) long and 4 inches (10 cm) broad, smooth and of a dark green above, downy and lighter coloured beneath; they are entire towards the base, which is cuneiform, but are widened and coarsely toothed for two thirds of their length towards the summit. The tree is distinguished, when young, by the form of its base and by the down upon its leaves, which is more sensible to the touch than on any analogous species. At a riper age the lower side of the leaf is of a silvery white, which is strikingly contrasted with the bright green of the upper surface; hence the specific name of discolor Was given it by Dr. Muhlemberg.
The acorns are sweet, but seldom abundant; they are rather large, of a brown complexion, and contained in a spreading cup edged with short slender filaments, more downy within than those of any other oak, and supported by peduncles 1 or 2 inches (2.5 or 5 cm) in length. The trunk is clad in a scaly greyish white bark. The wood is strong, elastic, and heavier than that of the white oak.

Translation by Augustus Lucas Hillhouse.