Quercus
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Quercus
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere; it includes some 500 species, both deciduous and evergreen. Fossil oaks date back to the Middle Eocene. Molecular phylogeny shows that the genus is divided into Old World and New World clades, but many oak species hybridise freely, making the genus's history difficult to resolve. Ecologically, oaks are keystone species in habitats from Mediterranean semi-desert to subtropical rainforest. They live in association with many kinds of fungi including truffles. Oaks support more than 950 species of caterpillar, many kinds of gall wasp which form distinctive galls (roundish woody lumps such as the oak apple), and a large number of pests and diseases. Oak leaves and acorns contain enough tannin to be toxic to cattle, but pigs are ab ...
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List Of Quercus Species
The genus ''Quercus'' contains about 500 known species, plus about 180 hybrids between them. The genus, as is the case with many large genera, is divided into subgenera and sections. Traditionally, the genus ''Quercus'' was divided into the two subgenera ''Cyclobalanopsis'', the ring-cupped oaks, and ''Quercus'', which included all the other sections. However, a comprehensive revision in 2017 identified different relationships. Now the genus is commonly divided into a subgenus ''Quercus'' and a subgenus ''Cerris'', with ''Cyclobalanopsis'' included in the latter. The sections of subgenus ''Quercus'' are mostly native to the New World, with the notable exception of the white oaks of sect. ''Quercus'' and the endemic '' Quercus pontica''. In contrast, the sections of the subgenus ''Cerris'' are exclusively native to the Old World. Unless otherwise indicated, the lists which follow contain all the species accepted by Plants of the World Online , plus selected hybrids that are also ...
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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 plant, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It grows on soils of near neutral Soil pH, 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. Description Pedunculate oak is a deciduous tree up to tall, with a single stout trunk that can be as much as in girth (circumference at breast height) or even 14 m in Pollarding, pollarded specimens. Older trees tend to be pollarded, with boles (the main trunk) about 3 m long. They often 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 ...
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Quercus Subg
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere; it includes some 500 species, both deciduous and evergreen. Fossil oaks date back to the Middle Eocene. Molecular phylogeny shows that the genus is divided into Old World and New World clades, but many oak species hybridise freely, making the genus's history difficult to resolve. Ecologically, oaks are keystone species in habitats from Mediterranean semi-desert to subtropical rainforest. They live in association with many kinds of fungi including truffles. Oaks support more than 950 species of caterpillar, many kinds of gall wasp which form distinctive galls (roundish woody lumps such as the oak apple), and a large number of pests and diseases. Oak leaves and acorns contain enough tannin to be toxic to cattle, but pigs are able to ...
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Cork Oak
''Quercus suber'', commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris, ''Quercus'' sect. ''Cerris''. It is the primary source of cork (material), cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring and as the cores of cricket balls. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa. In the Mediterranean basin the tree is an ancient species with fossil remnants dating back to the Tertiary period. It can survive for as long as two centuries. Typically, once it reaches 25 years old, its thick bark can be harvested for cork every 9 to 12 years without causing harm to the tree. It endures drought and makes little demand on the soil quality and is regarded as a defence against desertification. Cork oak woodlands are home to a multitude of animal and plant species. Since cork for sealing bottles is increasingly being displaced by other materials, these forests are at risk as part of the cultural landscape and as a ...
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Oak Apple
An oak apple or oak gall is a large, round, vaguely apple-like gall commonly found on many species of oak. Oak apples range in size from in diameter and are caused by chemicals injected by the larva of certain kinds of gall wasp in the family Cynipidae. Formation The adult female wasp lays single eggs in developing leaf buds. The wasp larvae feed on the gall tissue resulting from their secretions, which modify the oak bud into the gall, a structure that protects the developing larvae until they undergo metamorphosis into adults. Some common oak-apple-forming species are the '' Biorhiza pallida'' gall wasp in Europe, '' Amphibolips confluenta'' in eastern North America, and '' Atrusca bella'' in western North America. Oak apples may be brownish, yellowish, greenish, pinkish, or reddish. Other galls Considerable confusion exists in the general literature between the oak apple and the oak marble gall. The oak marble is frequently called the oak apple due to the superfici ...
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Acorn
The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), enclosed in a tough Nutshell, shell known as the pericarp, and borne in a cup-shaped Calybium, cupule. Acorns are long and on the fat side. Acorns take between 5 and 24 months (depending on the species) to mature; see the List of Quercus species, list of ''Quercus'' species for details of oak classification, in which acorn morphology (biology), morphology and phenology are important factors. Etymology The word ''acorn'' (earlier ''akerne'', and ''acharn'') is related to the gothic language, Gothic name ''akran'', which had the sense of "fruit of the unenclosed land". The word was applied to the most important forest produce, that of the oak. Geoffrey Chaucer, Chaucer spoke of "achornes of okes" in the 14th century. By degrees, popular etym ...
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Fagaceae
The Fagaceae (; ) are a family of flowering plants that includes beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and comprises eight genera with around 1,000 or more species. Fagaceae in temperate regions are mostly deciduous, whereas in the tropics, many species occur as evergreen trees and shrubs. They are characterized by alternate simple leaves with pinnate venation, unisexual flowers in the form of catkins, and fruit in the form of cup-like (Calybium and cupule, cupule) nuts. Their leaves are often lobed, and both petiole (botany), petioles and stipules are generally present. Their fruits lack endosperm and lie in a scaly or spiny husk that may or may not enclose the entire nut, which may consist of one to seven seeds. In the oaks, genus ''Quercus'', the fruit is a non-valved nut (usually containing one seed) called an acorn. The husk of the acorn in most oaks only forms a cup in which the nut sits. Other members of the family have fully enclosed nuts. Fagaceae is one of the most ecologically i ...
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Oak (wine)
Oak is used in winemaking to vary the color, flavor, tannins (wine), tannin profile and texture of wine. It can be introduced in the form of a barrel during the fermentation (wine), fermentation or aging barrel, aging periods, or as free-floating chips or stave (wood), staves added to wine fermented in a vessel like stainless steel. Oak barrels can impart other qualities to wine through evaporation and low level exposure to oxygen.J. Robinson ''Jancis Robinson's Wine Course'' Third Edition pg 91-93 Abbeville Press 2003 History In early History of wine, wine history, the amphora was the vessel of choice for the storage (wine), storage and transportation of wine. Due to the perishable nature of wood material it is difficult to trace the usage of barrels in history. The Greek historian Herodotus noted that ancient Mesopotamians used barrels made of palm wood to transport wine along the Euphrates. Palm is a difficult material to bend and fashion into barrels, however, and wine merch ...
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Gall
Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to benign tumors or warts in animals. They can be caused by various parasites, from viruses, fungi and bacteria, to other plants, insects and mites. Plant galls can be such highly organized structures that their cause can be determined without the actual agent being identified. This applies particularly to insect and mite plant galls. The study of plant galls is known as cecidology. Anatomy Shape and size Galls develop on various plant organs, providing nutrition and shelter to inducing insects. Galls display vast variation in morphology, size, and wall composition. The size of insect galls can range significantly, from approximately two inches in diameter to less than one-sixteenth of an inch. Some galls are so small that they are merely slightly thick ...
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Tannin
Tannins (or tannoids) are a class of astringent, polyphenolic biomolecules that bind to and Precipitation (chemistry), precipitate proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids. The term ''tannin'' is widely applied to any large polyphenolic compound containing sufficient hydroxyls and other suitable groups (such as carboxyls) to form strong complexes with various macromolecules. The term ''tannin'' (from scientific French ''tannin'', from French ''tan'' "crushed oak bark", ''tanner'' "to tan", cognate with English language, English ''tanning'', Medieval Latin ''tannare'', from Proto-Celtic ''*tannos'' "oak") refers to the abundance of these compounds in oak Bark (botany), bark, which was used in Tanning (leather), tanning animal Hide (skin), hides into leather. The tannin compounds are widely distributed in many species of plants, where they play a role in protection from predation (acting as pesticides) and might help in regulating plant ...
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Gall Wasp
Gall wasps, also traditionally called gallflies, are hymenopterans of the family Cynipidae in the wasp superfamily Cynipoidea. Their common name comes from the galls they induce on plants for larval development. About 1,300 species of this generally very small creature () are known worldwide, with about 360 species of 36 different genera in Europe and some 800 species in North America. Features Like all Apocrita, gall wasps have a distinctive body shape, the so-called wasp waist. The first abdominal tergum (the propodeum) is conjoined with the thorax, while the second abdominal segment forms a sort of shaft, the petiole. The petiole connects with the gaster, which is the functional abdomen in apocritan wasps, starting with the third abdominal segment proper. Together, the petiole and the gaster form the metasoma, while the thorax and the propodeum make up the mesosoma. The antennae are straight and consist of two or three segments. In many varieties, the backside of the ...
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Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically Aging (food), aged in wooden casks, commonly of charred white oak. Uncharred white oak casks previously used for the aging of Port wine, port, rum or sherry may be employed during storage to impart a unique flavor and color. Whisky is a strictly regulated Alcoholic spirit, spirit worldwide with many classes and types. The typical unifying characteristics of the different classes and types are the fermentation of grains, distillation, and aging in Barrel, wooden barrels. Etymology The word ''whisky'' (or ''whiskey'') is an anglicisation of the Classical Gaelic word (or ) meaning "water" (now written as in Modern Irish, and in Scottish Gaelic). This Gaelic word shares its ultimate Indo-European_vocabulary#Natural_features, ...
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