Quercus robur L. – Family: Fagaceae

General Characteristics

A deciduous tree that can grow up to 25 meters tall, with a hemispherical crown and thick, dark gray-brown bark. 

The leaves are oblong, up to 10 cm long, subsessile, with 8-10 shallow lobes and rounded tips. 

The flowers are arranged in unisexual inflorescences: the male flowers are pendulous catkins, and the female flowers have solitary flowers with red stigmas; pollination is anemophilous. 

The fruits are pedunculate acorns, with oblong nuts enclosed in a hemispherical cupule with rhomboid scales.

USES

The wood is used in carpentry for barrel staves and shipbuilding materials.

CURIOSITIES

Tannins are extracted from the bark. 

The species, which is very long-lived, is typical of the alluvial soils of the Po Valley.

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION

A species native to Europe up to the Urals, found in fertile and moist soils. 

It easily hybridizes with other species of the Quercus genus.