Trees though sometimes shrubs of the genus Quercus which, together with the beeches (Fagus), sweet chestnuts and southern beeches (Nothofagus) are placed in the botanical family fagaceae.
Various other trees found throughout the world and/or their timbers are commonly called 'oaks'
and the most closely related of them to the true oaks are the tanoaks of the genus Lithocarpus, also of the Fagaceae family.
The family is distributed throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the world excepting tropical and southern Africa. The genus Quercus which contains about 500 species, is distributed throughout the northern hemisphere and in the mountainous regions of the tropics.
Two species of oak are native to the British Isles; the
common or pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) with short-stalked leaves and stalked acorns and the
sessile or durmast oak (Quercus petraea) with long-stalked leaves and stalkless acrons.
Many oaks in the British Isles are intermediate forms or hybrids of these two species.
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The Saxon name for the tree was "aik" and its characteristic nut was known as the "aik-com".
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There are also three introduced species which may be commonly found in Britain.
The red oak (Quercus borealis) is native to America. Unlike the round lobed leaves of the native species,
its leaves are sharply lobed. Grown as a decorative tree in parks and gardens, its leaves turn a vivid
red in the autumn.
The holm or evergreen oak (Quercus ilex) is a Mediterranean species which has dark-green glossy and
spineless leaves which remain on the tree for two years.
The Turkey oak (Quercus cerris)is a rapidly-growing tree
the leaves of which have zig-zagged edges and the cups of the acorns possess bristles.
It is frequently found having seeded itself in parks and woodlands.
Most of the buds are arranged alternately along the stems but form clusters towards their ends. This leads to a distinctly irregular pattern of branches which makes the oaks easily identified in the winter.
The deeply lobed leaves of the native British species, Q. robur and Q. petraea are more or less oval in shape. Each lobe is rounded at the tip. Whilst the leaves of these two species turn a yellow/dull brown colour in the autumn, those of the American red oaks which are grown as ornamental plants for their autumn foliage turn vivid red colours before falling.
Oaks are decidious, semi-evergreen and quite evergreen and the leaves are arranged alternately long the stem in all species. Those of the Turkey oak (Q. cerris) are more deeply lobed than those of the native British species; those of one American red oak, Q. coccinea, have very pointed, almost spiny lobes; those of another, Q. rubra are almost square in outline. The leaves of the American willow oak Q. phllos are in contrast laceolate, very much like those of the crack willow, with pronounced lateral lobes here and there.
All oaks are wind-pollinated, the unisexual flowers, borne on the same tree, appear in April and May. The male flowers arranged in loose catkins 50-75mm (2-3 inches) long and, not appearing before the leaves, they in rather inconspicious. Each flower comprises five to seven sepals and about the same number of stamens although, in some species, there may be as many as 12 of the latter. The female flowers may or may not be borne on short stalks, according to the species. The occur in groups of three to five and each is of a three-chambere ovary with three crimson styles. The ovary is enclosed in a capsule of scales which persist to form the cup of the acorn.
The male flowers are borne in open pendulous catkins during April. The female flowers, far less conspicious in the form of bud-like catkins, appear with the leaves. The leafy bracts at the base of each female flower fuse to form the cup in which the characteristic oval fruit known as an acorn, cupped in its cupule which forms from the bracts of the flower develops. The shape and the structure of the acorn varies from species to species. The oak produces fruit irregulalry with abundant oak mast being produced only every three or four years.
The seedlings compete vigorously with other species and although growth is slow and steady, it is very influenced by both soil and climate. The oaks of the western British Isles and particularly those of western Ireland frequently grow in rock-strewn ravines with little soil and are stunted hosting a wide variety of other plant species including algae, mosses, lichens, ferns and ivy. By contrast, those of the south-east and the midlands which grow in rich and fertile soils can attain over 30 metres (100 feet) and support little plant-life other than green algae.
The brown bark of saplings and young shoots is smooth lustrous bearing paler patches & cross bands but, as the oak ages, the bark splits to become deeply fissured in a distinctive irregular pattern. It was harvested in previous times for the tannin which it contains which was used in the tanning of leather. The sapwood beneath the bark is not durable like the hardwearing heartwood within which has been prized as timber since time imemmorial. Many products other than timber are also obtained from the oak.
The Restoration of the monarchy in May 1660 in the person of King Charles II (1660-1685) heralded the end of the Puritan severity which which had dominated every aspect of life during the Commonwealth (1649-1660) when Parliament ruled the country without a monarch. In celebration of the return of the monarchy, "The Royal Oak" became, and probably remains, one of the most common pub names in England.
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Supported by the Covenanters, Prince Charles landed in Scotland and was crowned King of the Scots in 1650. After his defeated at the battle of Worcester in 1651, he hid to evade capture by the Parliamentary forces and almost certain execution in an oak tree, the "Boscobel Oak" (named because of its proximity to Boscobel House), before making his escape to Europe.
After the Restoration, the oak which had sheltered the refugee monarch became his popular symbol and his Restoration in 1660 became celebrated every May by the wearing of an oak sprig and the decoration of buildings, particularly public buildings such as inns and pubs, with oak barnches.
In the south, the anniversary of the Restoration of Charles II was celebrated, particularly by children, as "Shick-Shack Day" after the oak apples known locally as "Shick-Shacks".
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Man seems to have held the Oak in special esteem since the earliest of times. In Britain, as elsewhere, the Druids revered the Oak and also its semi-parasite the mistletoe which they believed to carry the soul of its dead host through the winter until it came to life again in the spring.
The Ancient Greeks, on wishing to know the will of their god Jupiter, would make their way to the grove of oaks at Dodona in Epirus. They also burnt oak timber permanently before effigies of Jupiter.
This special reverence of the oak was not restricted to the Ancient Greeks but was also a feature of the Aryan gods of northern Europe; perpetual fires of oak were kept alight in worship of their gods by the ancient inhabitants of Germany who believed the trees were inhabited by the deities. The perpetual fires were also offered by the Norsemen to Thor and by the Lithuanians to Perkunas. All three of these pagan deities, Jupiter, Thor and Perkunas were gods of thunder.
Oaks, although different sepecies to those native to the British Isles (they may have been the evergreen or holly oak, Quercus ilex, or a similar species), are mentioned in the Bible . . .
And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods that were in their hands, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
- Genesis, 35
Later, the Saxons held the oak in no small respect for they held their assemblies beneath its boughs and their conferences with the Britons at Dartmoor were also held under oak trees.
It is natural for man to feel an awful and religious terror when placed in the centre of a thick wood; on which account, in all ages, such places have been chosen for the celebration of religious ceremonies.
- John Evelyn, Sylva (1662)
With the advent of Christianity in Europe, these majestic objects of reverence were not abandoned. At Geismar in Germany, Bonifacius had the great oak of Jupiter felled and built a chapel from its timber. There are many other connections between the oak and Christian sites.
A chapel on the Heinzenberg mountains of Switzerland stands on the site of a once-ancient which which is said to have groaned when it was cut down. Several monasteries in Ireland were founded in oak groves and at Kildare (the name means 'church of the oak') a church was built beneath an oak.
In the ancient Roman Empire, a wreath of oak leaves was the honour bestowed upon one who had saved a life. In the Third Reich, oak leaves were the decoration for valour.
The leaves of the oak and its acorns have formed the motif of carvings adorning both furniture and buildings, in timber and in stone.
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