British Native Trees
and Shrubs

Pedunculate-Oak Quercus robur (Fagaceae)

Where is the pride of Summer, - the green prime, -
The many, many leaves all twinkling? – Three
On the moss’d elm; three on the naked lime
Trembling, - and one upon the old oak tree!
Where is the Dryad’s immortality?-

Ode: Autumn
Thomas Hood [1799-1845]

The sturdy, stately English oak with its massive, spreading branches and distinctive round-lobed leaves is the tree that most readily evokes images of English history and a vanishing landscape. This very long-lived deciduous tree can grow up to 30 or 40 m in height, sometimes with a tall, irregular, open crown, but is more often lower and with a widely-spaced, domed crown. The trunk is grey-brown, smooth at first then becoming rough and fissured, and the large branches grow low on the tree, often spreading almost horizontally. Oak’s instantly recognizable, pale green, deeply lobed, short-stalked or stalkless ovate leaves, widest above the middle, have three to six rounded lobes each side tapering to two small ear-like lobes at the base. They vary is size up to about 14 cm long, sometimes bronze or brown when they unfurl in May, while the second, summer growth can be tinged with red. Both sexes of pale-green flowers appear at the same time as the leaves, the males in slender, hanging catkins 3-8 centimetres long and the females in stalked spikes at the tips of shoots. The latter are followed by the familiar acorns, looking like tiny, shiny eggs sitting in a rough-textured cup. Held singly or in clusters of two or three on long stalks, they are green at first but turn brown by autumn.

Pedunculate oak is found in woodland, open ground and in pollarded form in hedgerows throughout England on heavy clays and loams, especially on neutral or lime-rich soils, rarely above 300 m. Where the soil is suitably deep and rich, it is dominant in woods in much of the lowlands.

Fortunate is the gardener with enough space to grow an oak for posterity. It makes a rewarding specimen tree, both impressive and interesting throughout the year. It is tolerant of moderate cutting back and can be pollarded or coppiced from time to time. It grow in sun or semi-shade and likes deep, fertile soils, tolerating those that are damp but not waterlogged. Oak is reasonably drought tolerant but does not thrive on dry, shallow soils. It does not like salty winds in coastal sites. . When young, it keeps its leaves through the winter and can be a useful addition to a hedge. Propagate only from acorns, best collected ripe as they fall and sown immediately in beds protected from mice with a deep layer of soil over a sawdust marking layer. They should be removed after germination the following spring. Seedlings should be planted out after one year and replanted every second year until 75 cm tall when they can be placed in their permanent position

This is the most important of all our native trees as a habitat for wildlife, attracting 284 insect species. As a "master tree" it acts as a landmark for gathering colonies of purple emperor butterflies while the larvae of purple hairstreaks are amongst the dozens of different caterpillars of butterflies and moths which feed on the leaves. The leaves are also alluring to numerous gall-forming mites and wasps which produce "spangles" and "cherries" on the surface. Invasion of the flowers results in misshapen acorns. It also attracts lichens, fungi, bats, squirrels, voles, wood mice, spiders, beetles and a huge variety of birds including warblers, tits, flycatchers, thrushes, woodpeckers and tawny owls. The tree is an almost complete ecosystem in its own right.

The closely related Sessile Oak, Quercus petraea, differs in having higher growth on a straighter trunk, darker green leaves with five to eight shallow lobes tapering gradually into a stalked base, and an unstalked acorn. This oak is more suitable for planting in acid soils in the north and west.

Page last updated - January 10, 2002  

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