English Oak

Quercus robur

• Also known as Pedunculate Oak.
• A tree with huge cultural significance in the UK. Its leaves form the logo of the National Trust and the Woodland Trust.
• Used for ship building, admirals worried about future timber stocks used to ‘seed bomb’ estates they visited dropping acorns out of their breeches (trouser) pockets as they walked around.
• Oak wood is very strong and hard wearing, it actually gets stronger with age. The tannins in the wood will corrode iron, so wooden pegs rather than nails are still used in oak timber construction to this day.
• Quercus means oak and robur strength, or hard wearing.
• There are two types of Oak native to the UK Quercus robur (English Oak) and Quercus petraea (Sessile Oak) these can be most simply identified by the stalks on their acorns. Quercus robur has a stalk to its acorns, where as Quercus petraea does not, they come straight off the stem. They do hybridise with each other though, so sometimes you may not be too sure, and for good reason.
• Oaks, like the Hazel we looked at before, are monoecious, with both the male and female being found on the same tree, and again they form catkins. These are just starting to come out with the new leaves. Can you find the small female flowers with small red stigmas?
• Folklore states that “Ash before Oak and we are in for a soak, Oak before Ash and we’re in for a splash.” Unfortunately modern science disagrees with this, and shows that oaks usually come out before the ash, sessile oak will flush four days before ash for every one degree change in temperature.
• The acorns on an oak tree can be ground into a flour.