Turkey Oak (Quercus cerris) - tree - September 2017
This fantastic Turkey oak can be found in the St Thomas church grounds of Exeter, UK. === Turkey oak is a deciduous broadleaf tree native to south-eastern Europe and Asia Minor. urkey oak can grow to 30m and was introduced to the UK as an ornamental tree in the 18th century. The bark is dark grey, maturing with various plates and deep fissures. On older trees the trunk fissures are often streaked with orange near the base. The large acorns mature 18 months after pollination. Acorns are quite distinct - orange at the base, graduating to a green-brown tip, and with a 'hairy' acorn 'cup', which looks like a hat made of moss. Native to the south east France and across to the Balkans and Turkey, Turkey oak is widely planted in much of Europe and was reintroduced to UK woodlands in the 18th century. The leaves (which are arranged alternately) are distinctive and different from those of the native oaks (sessile or pedunculate). Whereas the leaf of the latter is quite broad, the leaf of the turkey oak is ‘narrow’ and more ‘angular’. The top surface of the leaves is a dark, rich green but the lower surface is paler. A leaf stalk or petiole is clearly visible. The trunk is often long and straight with branches that are somewhat more slender than those seen on English Oaks. One of the tree’s distinctive features is the bark, which has orange coloured fissures near to the base of the trunk The male flowers hang in catkins and the female ones form acorns, that sit in cups or cupules. In the turkey oak, this cupule is covered with a ‘forest’ of tiny outgrowths so that the cup is scarcely visible. === Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots (unranked): Rosids Order: Fagales Family: Fagaceae Genus: Quercus Section: Cerris Species: Q. cerris Binomial name Quercus cerris
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