Flora de la Real Expedición Botánica del Nuevo Reino de Granada (1783–1816), vol. XIV, p. 26 Panama is just about where the southward journey of the oak through the Americas stops. While the closing of the isthmus between North and South America between 3.5 and 5 million years ago allowed oaks into a small area of north-western South America, only one species extends into Colombia.  Which means oaks barely have a toehold in South America, and never cross the equator. They get close, to about one degree of latitude north. After splintering into some 240 species, the oaks of the ..read more

Muller oak, Joshua Tree National Park, California; September 2014 The first naturally growing oak I saw in California was in Joshua Tree National Park, just south of Los Angeles. Not a grand old tree like the ones from eastern USA I’d seen in picture books, but a gnarly shrub fighting for existence alongside succulents and desert ephemerals. Huddled near a stand of the local pine tree, the piñon (Pinus edulis), in the shadow of an ochre-coloured, rocky outcrop.  I'm pretty sure it was a Muller oak (Quercus cornelius-mulleri), with its spiny, leathery leaves, growing the way ..read more

Airt Ben Haddu, Morocco (© ASA)  While Europe has about 36 species of oak (Quercus), most of these grow in the southern countries, particularly around the Mediterranean. The UK and much of the north have only two native species, the English (or Pedunculate) oak (Quercus robur) and the sessile oak (Quercus petraea).  Today, though, I want to drop to the southern side of the Mediterranean, into Africa. Eight oak species growing naturally in northern Africa, with all but one of these found on both the European and African sides of the Mediterranean Sea.    The eight ..read more

Bristle-toothed oak, Kyneton Botanic Gardens, June 2020 A few winters ago, I saw two bristle-toothed oaks (Quercus acutissima) with their rusty brown leaves about to fall in Kyneton and then two days later, in Hawthorn. Like many deciduous oaks, they hold their leaves until early winter.  Bristle-toothed oak, Kyneton Botanic Gardens, June 2020 I've also seen bristle-toothed oaks in green leaf, in Box Hill Gardens and lakeside at Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. But they are not commonly grown in Australia. Apparently, they are more often planted in North America, where t ..read more

(From left) me, Governor Linda Dessau, Engelmann oak, Tony Howard and Penny Fowler (current Chair of Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne Board), Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, 9 June 2023 Last year, Linda Dessau and Tony Howard planted one near the new City Gate in Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne (on 9 June 2023), to mark the end of the Linda's eight-year term as 29th Governor of Victoria.  A month or so later, I planted one in Oak Lawn (on 14 July 2023) to mark the end of my ten-year term as the thirteenth Director (and Chief Executive) of Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. I include ..read more

Grandson Sidney with (clearly) cork oak, Redford Park, December 2023 A place marker post today, with links to all oak species already mentioned in Talking Plants, before or after it transformed into an oak fest. Where mentioned in more than one post, I've provide a link to the search results from that name.  Quercus agrifolia (California live oak)  Quercus alnifolia (golden oak) Quercus ballota/rotundifolia (ballota oak)  Quercus canariensis (Algerian oak)  Quercus candicans (flagpole oak)  Quercus cerris (Turkey oak)  Quercus coccifer subspecies callipri ..read more

This picture from my wikipedia page looks like I'm standing among the branches of an English oak (Quercus robur) or perhaps, because of the larger leaves, an Algerian oak (Quercus canariensis). In fact, it's the daimyo oak (Quercus dentata), a species closely related to both (they are classified in the same subgenus and section of Quercus) but from 'the East'. Japan, Korea, China and Kuril Islands, says the label in Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. (If, like me, you've never visited the Kuril Islands, they are a volcanic archipelago to the north-east of Japan, and in part disputed territory b ..read more

Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, Victoria, 2020 Last week I was dissing the willow oak (Quercus phellos), blaming its lack of appeal on some rather plain (willow-like) leaves. This week's oak also has rather plainly cut leaves, without any scalloping or much serration at the edges, but it makes up for this in texture and 'secret' colour. Texture first. The leaves above might look soft, like those of a coprosma, but the golden oak (Quercus alnifolia) is one of those oaks with coarse, papery leaves. Not quite as 'dry' as the holm (Quercus ilex) or cork (Quercus suber) oak ..read more

Birregurra, Victoria I don't think willow oak, Quercus phellos, is the prettiest of oaks. As the common name suggests, sometimes rendered more explicitly as willow-leaved oak, its leaves resemble those of a willow. The acorns may have pretty stripes narrowing to the pointy tip but I haven't seen mature fruits myself. These are a few immature fruits on a couple of trees in a home garden at Birregurra, just west of Melbourne, but the acorn is yet to emerge.  Birregurra The botanical name, phellos, is what the Ancient Greeks called the cork oak of Europe, Quercus suber. Wi ..read more

Turkey oak, Quercus cerris; Hedgeley Dean, Malvern (April 2020) Having watched Ridley Scott's Napoleon and read Andrew Roberts's Napoleon the Great (both of which rely heavily on the recently curated correspondence of Napoleon), I was keen to find some quirky Quercus connections in this complex man's life. First up the Montenotte medal, which Roberts describes as 'just over 1½ inches in diameter, depicting a bust of Napoleon on the obverse side with his coat embroidered with oak leaves and acorns, a figure representing the ‘Genius of War’ on the reverse’. The medal was ..read more