Quercus robur |
Quercus lyrata |
|
---|---|---|
British oak, chêne pédoncule, English oak, French oak, pedunculate oak |
overcup oak |
|
Habit | Trees, deciduous, to 30 m. Bark light gray, scaly. | Trees, deciduous, to 20 m. Bark light gray, tinged with red, with thick plates underlying scales. |
Twigs | brown, 2-3 mm diam., glabrous. |
grayish or reddish, (2-)3(-4) mm diam., villous, soon glabrate. |
Buds | dark brown, ovoid, distally obtuse, 2-3 mm, glabrous. |
3 mm, gray-puberulent. |
Leaves | blade obovate to narrowly elliptic or narrowly obovate (some cultivars oblanceolate), (50-)70-150(-200) × (20-)35-85(-100) mm, base strongly cordate, often minutely revolute or folded, margins moderately to deeply lobed, lobes rounded or retuse distally, sinuses extending 1/3-7/8 distance to midrib, secondary veins arched, divergent, (3-)5-7 on each side, apex broadly rounded; surfaces abaxially light green, glabrous or sparsely pubescent, glabrous at maturity, adaxially deep green to light green or gray, dull or glossy. |
blade obovate or broadly obovate, 100-160(-200) × 50-100(-120) mm, base narrowly cuneate to acute, margins moderately to deeply lobed, lobes somewhat to sharply angular or spatulate, often with 2-3 teeth, sinuses nearly to midrib, secondary veins arched, divergent, (3-)5-7 on each side, apex broadly rounded or ovate; surfaces abaxially light green or somewhat glaucous, tomentose, tomentum persisting or soon falling, adaxially dark green or dull gray, sparsely puberulent to glabrate. |
Acorns | 1-3, on very thin (1-2 mm diam.), flexuous peduncle (25-)35-65(-100) mm; cup hemispheric to deeply goblet-shaped, enclosing 1/4-1/2 nut or more, scales closely appressed, often in concentric rows, finely grayish tomentose; nut brown, ovoid, oblong, or cylindric, 15-30(-35) × 12-20 mm, glabrous. |
1-2 on axillary peduncles to 40 mm; cup goblet-shaped, burlike, or spheroid, 15-20 mm deep × 20-30 mm wide, usually completely enclosing nut or merely apex visible, rarely enclosing only 1/2 nut, orifice smaller than nut diameter, often splitting irregularly at maturity, scales closely appressed, especially about margin, laterally connate, broadly triangular, keeled-tuberculate, finely grayish tomentose; nut light brown or grayish, ovoid-ellipsoid or oblong, (15-)25-50 × (10-)20-40 mm, finely puberulent or floccose. |
Cotyledons | distinct. |
distinct. |
2n | = 24. |
|
Quercus robur |
Quercus lyrata |
|
Phenology | Flowering spring. | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Roadsides, pastures, forest margins and woodlands | Bottoms, lowlands, wet forest, streamside forests, swamp forests, periodically inundated areas |
Elevation | 0-1000 m (0-3300 ft) | 0-200 m (0-700 ft) |
Distribution |
BC; NB; NS; PE [Introduced from Europe]
|
AL; AR; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
|
Discussion | Quercus robur is one of the oaks most commonly cultivated in temperate and subtropical parts of the world. In North America it is most commonly seen in the eastern and northwestern parts of the United States and and in southeastern and southwestern Canada, where it tolerates a wide array of conditions and is extremely hardy. In Washington, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, apparently reproducing populations persist in the wild. Elsewhere, although actual naturalization appears to be rare, Q. robur should be expected to persist around old homesites and other places of cultivation. Quercus robur most closely resembles our native species Q. alba in leaf form. In contrast with Q. alba, which has relatively long petioles (longer than 10 mm), acute leaf bases, and subsessile fruit (rarely on peduncles to 25 mm), Q. robur is easily distinguished by its shorter petioles (less than 10 mm), cordate, almost clasping, leaf bases, and fruit on long (more than 35 mm), thin peduncles. Quercus robur is one of the oaks most widely celebrated in literature; it has wood of exceptionally high quality for the manufacture of furniture, and it previously was the most important wood used in the manufacture of wooden sailing vessels in Europe. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The large acorns with hardened cups that enclose all or most of the nut are diagnostic. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. |
Parent taxa | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Q. pedunculata | Q. bicolor var. lyrata |
Name authority | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 996. (1753) | Walter: Fl. Carol., 235. (1788) |
Web links |
|