Quercus robur

Quercus robur, the pedunculate oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It grows on soils of near neutral acidity in the lowlands and is notable for its value to natural ecosystems, supporting a very wide diversity of herbivorous insects and other pests, predators and pathogens. Quercus robur is a deciduous tree up to 40 m tall, with a single stout trunk that can be as much as 11 m in girth (circumference at breast height) or even 14 m in pollarded specimens. Older trees tend to be pollarded, with boles (the main trunk) 2-3 m long. These live longer and become more stout than unpollarded trees. The crown is spreading and unevenly domed, and trees often have massive lower branches. The bark is greyish-brown and closely grooved, with vertical plates. There are often large burrs on the trunk, which typically produce many small shoots. Oaks do not produce suckers but do recover well from pruning or lightning damage. The twigs are hairless and the buds are rounded (ovoid), brownish and pointed. The leaves are arranged alternately along the twigs and are broadly oblong or ovate, 10-12 cm long by 7-8 cm wide, with a short (typically 2-3 mm) petiole. They have a cordate (auricled) base and 3-6 rounded lobes, divided no further than half way to the midrib. The leaves are usually glabrous or have just a few simple hairs on the lower surface. They are dark green above, paler below, and are often covered in small disks of spangle gall by autumn. Flowering takes place in spring (early May in England). It is wind-pollinated. The male flowers occur in narrow catkins some 2-4 cm long and arranged in small bunches; the female flowers are small, brown with dark red stigmas, about 2 mm in diameter and are found at the tips of new shoots on peduncles 2-5 cm long. The fruits (acorns) are borne in clusters of 2-3 on a long peduncle (stalk) 4-8 cm long. Each acorn is 1.