Quercus Nuttallii
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

An oak is a
hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...
tree or shrub in the
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an
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), en ...
, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the
Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...
; it includes some 500 species, both
deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
and
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...
. Fossil oaks date back to the Middle
Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...
.
Molecular phylogeny Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
shows that the genus is divided into
Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...
and New World
clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...
s, but many oak species hybridise freely, making the genus's history difficult to resolve. Ecologically, oaks are
keystone species A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its natural environment relative to its abundance. The concept was introduced in 1969 by the zoologist Robert T. Paine. Keystone species play a critical role in main ...
in habitats from Mediterranean semi-desert to subtropical
rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...
. They live in association with many kinds of
fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...
including
truffle A truffle is the Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, one of the species of the genus ''Tuber (fungus), Tuber''. More than one hundred other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including ''Geopora'', ''P ...
s. Oaks support more than 950 species of
caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder ...
, many kinds of
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 gene ...
which form distinctive
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 war ...
s (roundish woody lumps such as the
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 famil ...
), and a large number of pests and diseases. Oak leaves and acorns contain enough
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 widel ...
to be toxic to cattle, but pigs are able to digest them safely. Oak timber is strong and hard, and has found many uses in construction and furniture-making. The bark was traditionally used for
tanning leather Tanning may refer to: *Tanning (leather), treating animal skins to produce leather *Sun tanning, using the sun to darken pale skin **Indoor tanning, the use of artificial light in place of the sun **Sunless tanning, application of a stain or dye t ...
.
Wine barrel Oak is used in winemaking to vary the color, flavor, tannin profile and texture of wine. It can be introduced in the form of a barrel during the fermentation or aging periods, or as free-floating chips or staves added to wine fermented in a ve ...
s are made of oak; these are used for aging alcoholic beverages such as
sherry Sherry ( ) is a fortified wine produced from white grapes grown around the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is a drink produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versio ...
and
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 ...
, giving them a range of flavours, colours, and aromas. The spongy bark of the
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, ...
is used to make traditional wine bottle corks. Almost a third of oak species are threatened with extinction due to climate change,
invasive pests An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native species t ...
, and
habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...
. In culture, the oak tree is a symbol of strength and serves as the
national tree This is a list of countries that have officially designated one or more trees as their national trees. Most species in the list are officially designated. Some species hold only an "unofficial" status. Additionally, the list includes trees that we ...
of many countries. In Indo-European and related religions, the oak is associated with
thunder god Polytheistic peoples from many cultures have postulated a thunder deity, the creator or personification of the forces of thunder and lightning; a lightning god does not have a typical depiction and will vary based on the culture. In Indo-Europea ...
s. Individual oak trees of cultural significance include the
Royal Oak The Royal Oak was the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House ...
in Britain, the
Charter Oak The Charter Oak was an enormous Quercus alba, white oak tree growing on Wyllys Hill in Hartford, Connecticut, from around the 12th or 13th century until it fell during a storm in 1856. Connecticut colonists hid Connecticut Constitutional Histor ...
in the United States, and the Guernica Oak in the Basque Country.


Etymology

The
generic Generic or generics may refer to: In business * Generic term, a common name used for a range or class of similar things not protected by trademark * Generic brand, a brand for a product that does not have an associated brand or trademark, other ...
name ''Quercus'' is
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
for "oak", derived from Proto-Indo-European language, Proto-Indo-European ''*kwerkwu-'', "oak", which is also the origin of the name "fir", another important or sacred tree in Indo-European culture. The word "cork", for the bark of the
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, ...
, similarly derives from ''Quercus''. The common name "oak" is from Old English ''ac'' (seen in placenames such as Acton, London, Acton, from ''ac'' + ''tun'', "oak village"), which in turn is from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*aiks'', "oak".


Description

Oaks are
hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...
(dicotyledonous) trees,
deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
or
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...
, with spirally arranged leaves, often with Dentate leaf, lobate margins; some have serrated leaves or Entire (botany), entire leaves with smooth margins. Many deciduous species are marcescent, not dropping dead leaves until spring. In spring, a single oak tree Monoecy, produces both male and female flowers. The staminate (male) flowers are arranged in catkins, while the small pistillate (female) flowers produce an
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), en ...
(a kind of Nut (fruit), nut) contained in a Calybium and cupule, cupule. Each acorn usually contains one seed and takes 6–18 months to mature, depending on the species. The acorns and leaves contain tannic acid, which helps to guard against fungi and insects. There are some 500 extant species of oaks. Trees in the genus are often large and slow-growing; ''Q. alba'' can reach an age of 600 years, a diameter of and a height of . The Granit oak in Bulgaria, a ''Q. robur'' specimen, has an estimated age of 1,637 years, making it the oldest oak in Europe. The Wi'aaSal tree, a live oak in the reservation of the Pechanga Band of Indians, California, is at least 1,000 years old, and might be as much as 2,000 years old, which would make it the oldest oak in the US. Among the smallest oaks is ''Quercus acuta, Q. acuta'', the Japanese evergreen oak. It forms a bush or small tree to a height of some . File:Brockwell Oak (9).jpg, ''Quercus robur'' habit File:Quercus lusitanica - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-253.jpg, Illustration of ''Quercus lusitanica, Q. lusitanica'' showing staminate (left) and pistillate flowers (right) File:2021-04-22 18 54 32 Male flowers (catkins) on a White Oak within a wooded area in the Franklin Farm section of Oak Hill, Fairfax County, Virginia.jpg, Catkins of ''Quercus alba, Q. alba'' containing the staminate or 'male' flowers File:Летен дъб - цъфтеж, нови листа.JPG, New leaves and reddish pistillate or 'female' flowers of ''Quercus robur, Q. robur''


Distribution

The genus ''Quercus'' is native to the Northern Hemisphere and includes
deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...
and
evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...
species extending from cool temperate to tropical latitudes in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and North Africa. North America has the largest number of oak species, with approximately 160 species in Mexico, of which 109 are endemic, and about 90 in the United States. The second greatest area of oak diversity is China, with approximately 100 species. In the Americas, ''Quercus'' is widespread from Vancouver and Nova Scotia in the south of Canada, south to Mexico and across the whole of the eastern United States. It is present in a small area of the west of Cuba; in Mesoamerica it occurs mainly above . The genus crossed the isthmus of Panama when the northern and southern continents came together and is present as one species, ''Q. humboldtii'', above 1,000 metres in Colombia. The oaks of North America are of many sections (''Protobalanus'', ''Lobatae'', ''Ponticae'', ''Quercus'', and ''Virentes'') along with related genera such as ''Notholithocarpus''. In the Old World, oaks of section ''Quercus'' extend across the whole of Europe including European Russia apart from the far north, and north Africa (north of the Sahara) from Morocco to Libya. In Mediterranean Europe, they are joined by oaks of the sections ''Cerris'' and ''Ilex'', which extend across Turkey, the Middle East, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan'','' while section ''Ponticae'' is endemic to the western Caucasus in Turkey and Georgia (country), Georgia. Oaks of section ''Cyclobalanopsis'' extend in a narrow belt along the Himalayas to cover mainland and island Southeast Asia as far as Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Palawan. Finally, oaks of multiple sections (''Cyclobalanopsis'', ''Ilex'', ''Cerris'', ''Quercus'' and related genera like ''Lithocarpus'' and ''Castanopsis'') extend across east Asia including China, Korea, and Japan.


Evolution


Fossil history

Potential records of ''Quercus'' have been reported from Late Cretaceous deposits in North America and East Asia. These are not considered definitive, as macrofossils older than the Paleogene, and possibly from before the
Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...
are mostly poorly preserved without critical features for certain identification. Amongst the oldest unequivocal records of ''Quercus'' are pollen from Austria, dating to the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, around 55 million years ago. The oldest records of ''Quercus'' in North America are from Oregon, dating to the Middle Eocene, around 44 million years ago, with the oldest records in Asia from the Middle Eocene of Japan; both forms have affinities to the ''Cyclobalanopsis'' group. File:Quercus hispanica 20170317.jpg, ''Quercus × hispanica'' leaf. Miocene, Lleida, Spain File:Quercus hiholensis acorn UWBM 56470-3 Pigg & Wehr 2002 Plt2 fig16.png, ''Quercus hiholensis'' acorn, Langhian age (Middle Miocene), Washington State, US (c. 15 mya) File:Quercus kobatakei leaf (cropped).jpg, ''Quercus kobatakei'' leaf. Early Oligocene, Japan File:Early Oligocene oak acorn from Bridge Creek Flora.jpg, Early Oligocene acorn, Oregon, US (33 mya)


External phylogeny

''Quercus'' forms part, or rather two parts, of the Quercoideae subfamily of the Fagaceae, the beech family. Modern molecular phylogenetics suggests the following relationships:


Internal phylogeny

Molecular techniques for phylogenetic analysis show that the genus ''Quercus'' consisted of
Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...
and New World clades. The entire genome of ''Quercus robur'' (the pedunculate oak) has been DNA sequencing, sequenced, revealing an array of mutations that may underlie the evolution of longevity and Plant disease resistance, disease resistance in oaks. In addition, hundreds of oak species have been compared (at RAD-seq loci), allowing a detailed phylogeny to be constructed. However, the high signal of introgressive hybridization (the transfer of genetic material by repeated backcrossing with hybrid offspring) in the genus has made it difficult to resolve an unambiguous, unitary history of oaks. The phylogeny from Hipp et al. 2019 is:


Taxonomy


Taxonomic history

The genus ''Quercus'' was circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribed by Carl Linnaeus in the first edition of his 1753 ''Species Plantarum''. He described 15 species within the new genus, providing type specimens for 10 of these, and giving names but no types for ''Quercus cerris, Q. cerris'', ''Quercus coccifera, Q. coccifera'', ''Quercus ilex, Q. ilex'', ''Quercus smilax, Q. smilax'', and ''Quercus suber, Q. suber''. He chose ''Quercus robur, Q. robur'', the pedunculate oak, as the type species for the genus. A 2017 classification of ''Quercus'', based on multiple molecular phylogenetic studies, divided the genus into two subgenera and eight Section (botany), sections: *Subgenus ''Quercus'' – the New World clade (or high-latitude clade), mostly native to North America **Section ''Lobatae'' Loudon – North American red oaks **Section ''Protobalanus'' (Trelease) O.Schwarz – North American intermediate oaks **Section ''Ponticae'' Stef. – with a disjunct distribution between western Eurasia and western North America **Section ''Virentes'' Loudon – American southern live oaks **Section ''Quercus'' – white oaks from North America and Eurasia *Subgenus ''Cerris'' Oerst. – the Old World clade (or mid-latitude clade), exclusively native to Eurasia **Section ''Cyclobalanopsis'' Oerst. – cycle-cup oaks of East Asia **Section ''Cerris'' Dumort. – cerris oaks of subtropical and temperate Eurasia and North Africa **Section ''Ilex'' Loudon – ilex oaks of tropical and subtropical Eurasia and North Africa The subgenus division supports the evolutionary diversification of oaks among two distinct clades: the Old World clade (subgenus ''Cerris''), including oaks that diversified in Eurasia; and the New World clade (subgenus ''Quercus''), oaks that diversified mainly in the Americas.


Subgenus ''Quercus''

* Sect. ''Lobatae'' (Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Erythrobalanus''), the Erythrobalanus, red oaks of North America, Central America and northern South America. Style (botany), Styles are long; the acorns mature in 18 months and taste very bitter. The inside of the acorn shell appears woolly. The actual nut is encased in a thin, clinging, papery skin. The leaves typically have sharp lobe tips, with spiny bristles at the lobe. * Sect. ''Protobalanus'', the Protobalanus, canyon live oak and its relatives, in the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico. Styles are short; the acorns mature in 18 months and taste very bitter. The inside of the acorn shell appears woolly. The leaves typically have sharp lobe tips, with bristles at the lobe tip. * Sect. ''Ponticae,'' a disjunct including just two species. Styles are short, and the acorns mature in 12 months. The leaves have large stipules, high secondary veins, and are highly toothed. * Sect. ''Virentes,'' the southern live oaks of the Americas. Styles are short, and the acorns mature in 12 months. The leaves are evergreen or subevergreen. * Sect. ''Quercus'' (synonyms ''Lepidobalanus'' and ''Leucobalanus''), the Lepidobalanus, white oaks of Europe, Asia and North America. Trees or shrubs that produce nuts, specifically acorns, as fruits. Acorns mature in one year for annual trees and two years for biannual trees. Acorn is encapsulated by a spiny cupule as characterized by the family Fagaceae. Flowers in the ''Quercus'' genera produce one flower per node, with three or six styles, as well as three or six Ovary (botany), ovaries, respectively. The leaves mostly lack a bristle on their lobe tips, which are usually rounded. The type species is ''Quercus robur''.


Subgenus ''Cerris''

The type species is ''Quercus cerris''. * Sect. ''List of Quercus species#Section Cyclobalanopsis, Cyclobalanopsis'', the List of Quercus species#Section Cyclobalanopsis, ring-cupped oaks of eastern and southeastern Asia. These are evergreen trees growing tall. They are distinct from subgenus ''Quercus'' in that they have acorns with distinctive cups bearing concrescent rings of scales; they commonly also have densely clustered acorns, though this does not apply to all of the species. Species of ''Cyclobalanopsis'' are common in the evergreen subtropical laurel forests, which extend from southern Japan, southern Korea, and Taiwan across southern China and northern Indochina to the eastern Himalayas, in association with trees of the genus ''Castanopsis'' and the laurel family (Lauraceae). * Sect. ''Cerris'', the Cerris, Turkey oak and its relatives of Europe and Asia. Styles are long; acorns mature in 18 months and taste very bitter. The inside of the acorn's shell is hairless. Its leaves typically have sharp lobe tips, with bristles at the lobe tip. * Sect. ''List of Quercus species#Section Ilex, Ilex'', the Ilex oak and its relatives of Eurasia and northern Africa. Styles are medium-long; acorns mature in 12–24 months, appearing hairy on the inside. The leaves are evergreen, with bristle-like extensions on the teeth.


Ecology

Oaks are
keystone species A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its natural environment relative to its abundance. The concept was introduced in 1969 by the zoologist Robert T. Paine. Keystone species play a critical role in main ...
in a wide range of habitats from Mediterranean semi-desert to subtropical rainforest. They are important components of hardwood forests; some species grow in associations with members of the Ericaceae in oak–heath forests. Several kinds of
truffle A truffle is the Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, one of the species of the genus ''Tuber (fungus), Tuber''. More than one hundred other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including ''Geopora'', ''P ...
s, including two well-known varieties – black Tuber melanosporum, Périgord truffle and the white Piedmont truffle – have symbiotic relationships with oak trees. Similarly, many other fungi, such as ''Ramaria flavosaponaria'', associate with oaks. Oaks support more than 950 species of caterpillars, an important food source for many birds. Mature oak trees shed widely varying numbers of acorns (known collectively as mast) annually, with large quantities in Mast (botany), mast years. This may be a predator satiation strategy, increasing the chance that some acorns will survive to germination. Animals including squirrels and jays – Eurasian jays in the Old World, blue jays in North America – feed on acorns, and are important agents of seed dispersal as they carry the acorns away and bury many of them as food stores. However, some species of squirrel selectively excise the embryos from the acorns that they store, meaning that the food store lasts longer and that the acorns will never germinate.


Hybridisation

Interspecific hybridization is quite common among oaks, but usually between species within the same section only, and most common in the white oak group. White oaks cannot discriminate against pollination by other species in the same section. Because they are wind pollinated and have weak internal barriers to hybridization, hybridization produces functional seeds and fertile hybrid offspring. Ecological stresses, especially near habitat margins, can also cause a breakdown of mate recognition as well as a reduction of male function (pollen quantity and quality) in one parent species. Frequent hybridization among oaks has consequences for oak populations around the world; most notably, hybridization has produced large populations of hybrids with much introgression and the evolution of new species. Introgression has caused different species in the same populations to share up to 50% of their genetic information. As a result, genetic data often does not differentiate between clearly morphologically distinct species, but instead differentiates populations. The maintenance of particular loci for adaptation to ecological niches may explain the retention of species identity despite significant gene flow. The Fagaceae, or beech family, to which the oaks belong, is a slowly-evolving
clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...
compared to other angiosperms, and the patterns of hybridization and introgression in ''Quercus'' pose a significant challenge to the species concept, concept of a species as a group of "actually or potentially interbreeding populations which are reproductively isolated from other such groups." By this definition, many species of ''Quercus'' would be lumped together according to their geographic and ecological habitat, despite clear distinctions in morphology and genetic data.


Diseases and pests

Oaks are affected by a large number of pests and diseases. For instance, ''Q. robur'' and ''Q. petraea'' in Britain host 423 insect species. This diversity includes 106 Macrolepidoptera, macro-moths, 83 Microlepidoptera, micro-moths, 67 beetles, 53 cynipoidean wasps, 38 heteropteran bugs, 21 auchenorrhynchan bugs, 17 sawfly, sawflies, and 15 aphids. The insect numbers are seasonal: in spring, chewing insects such as caterpillars become numerous, followed by insects with sucking mouthparts such as aphids, then by leaf miners, and finally by gall wasps such as ''Neuroterus''. Several powdery mildews affect oak species. In Europe, the species ''Erysiphe alphitoides'' is the most common. It reduces the ability of leaves to photosynthesize, and infected leaves are shed early. Another significant threat, the oak processionary moth (''Thaumetopoea processionea''), has emerged in the UK since 2006. The caterpillars of this species defoliate the trees and are hazardous to human health; their bodies are covered with poisonous hairs which can cause rashes and respiratory problems. A little-understood disease of mature oaks, acute oak decline, has affected the UK since 2009. In California, goldspotted oak borer (''Agrilus auroguttatus'') has destroyed many oak trees, while sudden oak death, caused by the oomycete pathogen ''Phytophthora ramorum'', has devastated oaks in California and Oregon, and is present in Europe. Japanese oak wilt, caused by the fungus ''Raffaelea quercivora'', has rapidly killed trees across Japan.


Gall communities

Many galls are found on oak leaves, buds, flowers, and roots. Examples are oak artichoke gall, oak marble gall,
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 famil ...
gall, knopper gall, and Neurotus quercus-baccarum, spangle gall. These galls are the handiwork of tiny wasps from the Cynipidae. In a complex ecological relationship, these gall wasps become hosts to parasitoid wasps—primarily from the order Chalcidoidea—which lay their larvae inside the gall wasps, ultimately leading to the hosts' demise. Additionally, inquilines live Commensalism, commensally within the galls without harming the gall wasps. File:Gallrazorback.jpg, Oak apple gall on ''Quercus garryana'' File:Oak apples on oak leaf and in cross section.JPG, Oak apples on oak leaf File:Biorhiza pallida male.jpg, ''Biorhiza pallida'' male, the cause of oak apple galls


Toxicity

The leaves and acorns of oaks are poisonous to livestock, including cattle and horses, if eaten in large amounts, due to the toxin tannic acid, which causes kidney damage and gastroenteritis. An exception is the domestic pig, which, under the right conditions, may be fed entirely on acorns, and has traditionally been pastured in oak woodlands (such as the Spanish ''dehesa (pastoral management), dehesa'' and the English system of pannage). Humans can eat acorns after leaching (chemistry), leaching out the tannins in water.


Uses


Timber

Oak timber is a strong and hard wood with many uses, such as for furniture, floors, building frames, and Wood veneer, veneers. The wood of ''Quercus cerris'' (the Turkey oak) has better mechanical properties than those of the white oaks ''Quercus petraea, Q. petraea'' and ''Quercus robur, Q. robur''; the heartwood and sapwood have similar strength of materials, mechanical properties. Of the North American red oaks, the northern red oak, ''Quercus rubra'', is highly prized for lumber. The wood is resistant to insect and fungal attack. Wood from ''Q. robur'' and ''Q. petraea'' was used in Europe for shipbuilding, especially of naval man-of-war, men of war, until the 19th century. In hill states of India such as Uttarakhand, along with being used for fuelwood and timber, oak wood is used for agricultural implements, while the leaves serve as fodder for livestock during lean periods.


Other traditional products

Oak bark, with its high tannin content, was traditionally used in the Old World for Tanning (leather), tanning leather. Oak
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 war ...
s were used for centuries as a main ingredient in iron gall ink for manuscripts, harvested at a specific time of year. In Korea, sawtooth oak bark is used to make Roof shingle, shingles for Traditional Korean roof construction, traditional roof construction. The dried bark of the white oak was used in traditional medicine, traditional medical preparations; its tannic acid content made it astringent and antiseptic. Acorns have been ground to make a flour, and roasted for acorn coffee.


Culinary

Barrel (storage), Barrels for Aging barrel, aging wines,
sherry Sherry ( ) is a fortified wine produced from white grapes grown around the city of Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, Spain. Sherry is a drink produced in a variety of styles made primarily from the Palomino grape, ranging from light versio ...
, and spirits such as brandy and Scotch whisky are made from oak, with single barrel whiskey, single barrel malt whiskies fetching a premium.Piggott, John R.; Conner, John M. "Whiskies." Fermented beverage production. Boston, Massachusetts: Springer, 2003. 239–262. The use of oak (wine), oak in wine adds a range of flavours. Oak barrels, which may be charred before use, contribute to their contents' colour, taste, and aroma, imparting a desirable oaky vanillin flavour. A dilemma for wine producers is to choose between French and American oakwoods. French oaks (''Quercus robur'', ''Q. petraea'') give greater refinement and are chosen for the best, most expensive wines. American oak contributes greater texture and resistance to ageing, but produces a more powerful bouquet. Oak wood chips are used for smoking (cooking), smoking foods such as fish, meat, and cheese. In Japan, Children's Day is celebrated with rice cakes, filled with a sweet red bean paste, and wrapped in a oak leaf. The bark of the
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, ...
is used to produce cork stoppers for wine bottles. This species grows around the Mediterranean Sea; Portugal, Spain, Algeria, and Morocco produce most of the world's supply. Acorns of various oak species have been used as food for millennia, in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and among the native peoples of North America. In North Africa, acorns have been pressed to make acorn oil: the cooking oil, oil content can be as high as 30%. Oaks have also been used as fodder, both leaves and acorns being fed to livestock such as pigs. Given their high tannin content, acorns have often been leached to remove tannins before use as fodder. File:Sherry cellar, Solera system, 2003.jpg, Sherry maturing in barrel (storage), oak barrels File:Cork oak trunk section.jpg, A cross section of the trunk of a
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, ...
, ''Quercus suber'', showing the thick spongy bark used for making wine bottle corks File:Kashiwa-mochi.jpg, Kashiwa-mochi rice cake wrapped in oak leaf, Japan


Conservation

An estimated 31% of the world's oak species are threatened with extinction, while 41% of oak species are considered to be of conservation status, conservation concern. The countries with the highest numbers of threatened oak species (as of 2020) are China with 36 species, Mexico with 32 species, Vietnam with 20 species, and the US with 16 species. Leading causes are climate change and Invasive species, invasive pests in the US, and deforestation and urbanization in Asia. In the Himalayan region of India, oak forests are being invaded by pine trees due to global warming. The associated pine forest species may cross frontiers and integrate into the oak forests. Over the past 200 years, large areas of oak forest in the highlands of Mexico, Central America, and the northern Andes have been cleared for coffee plantations and cattle ranching. There is a continuing threat to these forests from exploitation for timber, fuelwood, and charcoal. In the US, entire oak ecosystems have declined due to a combination of factors thought to include fire suppression, increased consumption of acorns by growing mammal populations, herbivory of seedlings, and introduced pests. However, disturbance-tolerant oaks may have benefited from grazers like American bison, bison, and suffered when the bison were removed following European colonization of the Americas, European colonization.


Culture


Symbols

The oak is a widely used symbol of strength and endurance. It is the
national tree This is a list of countries that have officially designated one or more trees as their national trees. Most species in the list are officially designated. Some species hold only an "unofficial" status. Additionally, the list includes trees that we ...
of many countries, including the US, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus (Quercus alnifolia, golden oak), Estonia, France, Germany, Moldova, Jordan, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Wales. Ireland's fifth-largest city, Derry, is named for the tree, from . Oak branches are displayed on some German coins, both of the former Deutsche Mark and the euro. Oak leaves symbolize military rank, rank in armed forces including those United States Armed Forces, of the United States. Arrangements of oak leaves, acorns, and sprigs indicate different branches of the United States Navy staff corps officers. The oak tree is used as a symbol by several political parties and organisations. It is the symbol of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, and formerly of the Progressive Democrats in Republic of Ireland, Ireland.Coalition Government 1989 To 1992
progressivedemocrats.ie


Religion

The prehistoric Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European tribes worshipped the oak and connected it with a
thunder god Polytheistic peoples from many cultures have postulated a thunder deity, the creator or personification of the forces of thunder and lightning; a lightning god does not have a typical depiction and will vary based on the culture. In Indo-Europea ...
, and this tradition descended to many classical cultures. In Greek mythology, the oak is the tree sacred to Zeus, king of the gods. In Zeus's oracle in Dodona, Epirus, the sacred oak was the centerpiece of the precinct, and the priests would divination, divine the pronouncements of the god by interpreting the rustling of the oak's leaves. Mortals who destroyed such trees were said to be punished by the gods since the ancient Greeks believed beings called hamadryads inhabited them. In Norse mythology, Norse and Baltic mythology, the oak was sacred to the thunder gods Thor and Perkūnas respectively. In Celtic polytheism, the name druid, Celtic priest, is connected to Proto-Indo-European ''*deru'', meaning oak or tree. Veneration of the oak survives in Serbian Orthodox Church tradition. Christmas celebrations include the Badnjak (Serbian), ''badnjak'', a branch taken from a young and straight oak ceremonially felled early on Christmas Eve morning, similar to a yule log.


History

: :Individual oak trees, ''Individual oak trees'' Several oak trees hold cultural importance; such as the Royal Oak (tree), Royal Oak in Britain, the
Charter Oak The Charter Oak was an enormous Quercus alba, white oak tree growing on Wyllys Hill in Hartford, Connecticut, from around the 12th or 13th century until it fell during a storm in 1856. Connecticut colonists hid Connecticut Constitutional Histor ...
in the United States, and the Guernica oak in the Basque Country. "The Proscribed Royalist, 1651", a famous painting by John Everett Millais, depicts a Royalist hiding in an oak tree while fleeing from Oliver Cromwell, Cromwell's forces. In the Roman Republic, a crown of oak leaves was given to those who had saved the life of a citizen in battle; it was called the "Civic Crown". In his 17th century poem ''The Garden (poem), The Garden'', Andrew Marvell critiqued the desire to be awarded such a leafy crown: "How vainly men themselves amaze / To win the Arecaceae, palm, the oak, or Laurel wreath, bays; And their uncessant labors see / Crowned from some single herb or tree, ..."


Notes


References


Further reading

* Byfield, Liz (1990) ''An Oak Tree'', Collins Book Bus, London: Collins Educational, * Roger Phillips (photographer), Phillips, Roger (1979). ''Trees of North America and Europe'', Random House, New York . * Logan, William B. (2005) ''Oak: The Frame of Civilization'', New York; London: W. W. Norton, * Paterson, R. T. (1993). ''Use of Trees by Livestock'', 5: ''Quercus'', Chatham: Natural Resources Institute, * Royston, Angela (2000). ''Life Cycle of an Oak Tree'', Heinemann first library, Oxford: Heinemann Library, * Savage, Stephen (1994). ''Oak Tree'', Observing nature series, Hove: Wayland, * Arthur Tansley, Tansley, Arthur G. (1952). ''Oaks and Oak Woods'', Field study books, London: Methuen. . * Marek Żukow-Karczewski, Żukow-Karczewski, Marek (1988). "Dąb – król polskich drzew" ("Oak – the king of the Polish trees"), ''AURA: A Monthly for the Protection and Shaping of Human Environment'', 9, 20–21.


External links


''Flora of China'' – ''Cyclobalanopsis''

Oak diseases

Flora Europaea: ''Quercus''

Common Oaks of Florida

Oaks of the world

The Global Trees Campaign
The Red List of Oaks and Global Survey of Threatened Quercus * {{authority control Quercus, Quercus taxa by common names, 01 Pseudocereals Wood Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus