Quercus pubescens

Downy oak (Quercus pubescens)

The downy oak (Quercus pubescens, Syn: Q. lanuginosa, downy oak ) is a deciduous tree species in the genus of oaks (Quercus ) in the beech family ( Fagaceae ).

Dissemination

The distribution of downy oak ranges from southern Europe across southern Central and Western Europe to Asia Minor and the Caucasus. It occurs in the eastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, France, Italy, the Balkans and Sardinia and Corsica. North of the Alps lie scattered occurrence in areas with dry and warm, sub-Mediterranean climate: in the Swiss Jura, in Upper Alsace, on the Rhine plain and the Middle Rhine, the emperor chair, in Gottmadingen on the Heilsperg and in the Saale valley near Jena, in the National Park Lower Oder Valley at Gartz.

The downy oak rises in the Valais up to 1500 meters above sea level. It prefers to grow summer warm, nutrient-rich calcareous soils. More rarely it can be found on acid silicate rock. She gets along well with shallow soil, dry locations and grows so well in the Karst. It forms mixed forests with the flowering ash, the Turkey oak and the European hop hornbeam. The white oak is a typical part of the garrigue and maquis of where it grows only Shrubby on the degraded soils. In central Europe it occurs frequently with the sessile oak, with which they can form hybrids.

Description

The white oak is a deciduous, mostly krummwüchsiger tree or shrub. It can be up to 25 meters high, made ​​diameter to 0.6 meters and reaches up to age 500 years. It forms a thick, highly fissured longitudinally fissured bark. The initially tomentose - fluffy hairy stems, buds and leaves it owes its name. The up to 15 -inch-long leaves are alternate and are lobed tiefbuchtig, they are dark green above, gray-green below and feel soft. The white oak is monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ). It flowers in April to May and their acorns mature in October. The acorns are up to 3.5 centimeters long and sit halfway into the hemispherical cupula ( the cup-shaped shell around the fruit).

Use

The white oak is an important forest tree in South and South-East Europe. Its wood resembles that of the oak, but is heavier, more durable and less elastic. It is used for furniture and used as a timber. Downy oak forests are often managed as coppice for firewood. The acorns are used as pig feed.