Swamp white oak is a wetland tree. The caps on its acorns have little scales, which stick up at their tips, giving the caps a fuzzy look, a bit like bur oak; but in swamp oak there is no change in the look of these around the fringe of the cap as there is in bur oak. The leaves of swamp white oak are only ever shallowly lobed, which is another difference between this tree and the other white oaks.