Quercus pyrenaica

Pyrenean oak (Quercus pyrenaica )

The Pyrenean oak (Quercus pyrenaica ) is a species of the beech family ( Fagaceae ). It occurs in the western Mediterranean. Quercus pyrenaica was first described in 1805 by Carl Ludwig Willdenow, in Sp Pl, 4, p 451.

Description

The Pyrenean oak has an erect stem, forming a broad crown. Some of the roots growing flat below the soil surface and can drive out. The bark is light gray and torn into fields.

You rarely reaches a height of 20 meters and usually grows in shrub form. The holdings of the Pyrenean oak are beaten every 8 to 12 years as firewood in the middle. The Pyrenean oak forms after felling numerous coppice shoots, creating a dense shrubbery may arise.

The leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The hairy petiole has a length of 8 to 10 mm. At the base they are partially auriculate, the stalk towards the leaf blade tapering wedge-shaped. The leaf blade is hairy soft gray - green and on both sides. The leaves are about 13 to 15 cm long and 9 cm wide, on each side of the leaf blade are six tabs visible. The middle lobes are about 2 cm wide and cut to the middle of Spreitenseite. The hairy leaf surface appears ashen, the bald top green. Dead leaves remain on the tree until spring sprout new leaves.

The Pyrenean oak, like all oak species, monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ). The yellowish, conspicuous drooping male inflorescences appear until the end of June.

Dissemination

The Pyrenean oak is found in the west of France, Morocco, Portugal and Spain.

In the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula it is very common in other parts of Spain, the appearances limited to a few mountain ranges. Despite its name, it is absent in the Pyrenees.

It tolerates acidic soils on silicate rock, drought and continental climates better than other oaks.

Use

Since the Pyrenean oak slightly out new shoots from the root, it is suitable for coppicing, where it provides wood and charcoal of excellent quality. In spring, the new shoots are eaten by grazing livestock, which helps to prevent the overgrowth of wood pastures.

In parks and arboretums Pendula the form of the Pyrenean oak is planted as an ornamental tree occasionally.

Acorns of Pyrenean oak.

Galls on the Pyrenean oak.