Identify 8 native oak species

Native oak species such as the English oak and the sessile oak are widespread throughout Germany. Their share in the total forest area is a good 11 percent. Most of the naturalized species can be found in parks.

Native oak species

The following oak species are native to Germany:

Downy oak (Quercus pubescens)

• Occurrence: parks, gardens, roadside
• Genuine forests in Germany: in the southwest of Baden-Württemberg (especially in the Kaiserstuhl), Thuringian Saale Valley
• Soil: sandy-loamy to very loamy, tolerates wet locations well

Growth:

• Height: up to 20 meters
• Crown: broad crown with sparsely protruding branches
• Trunk diameter: 40 to 50 centimeters, very old specimens up to 2.5 meters

Bark / branches:

• Bark: gray-brown, thick, coarsely feathered
• Branches: cracked bark

Sheet:

• Petiole: about 1.5 centimeters
• Leaf blade: oval or obovate to elliptical, curved, smooth leaf margin, 4 to 8 lobes, up to 12 centimeters long
• Upper side of the leaf: dark green
• Underside of leaf: hairy, gray-green tomentose
• Autumn color: yellow

Acorns:

• sitting singly or in heap (three to four acorns)
• 2 to 2.8 inches long
• Cup: hemispherical, hairy
• envelops the fruit to a quarter, at most up to half

English oak (Quercus robur)

• Another common name: German oak, summer oak
• Occurrence: parks, gardens, roadside, forest tree
• Soil: sandy-loamy to very loamy, rich in nutrients, deep

Note: Since the pedunculate oak is very adaptable, it also grows on alternately moist to wet soils as well as on dry sandy soils (oak-birch forest, oak-pine forest)

Growth:

• Height: up to 40 meters
• Crown: broad and rounded
• Trunk diameter: up to three meters, in free standing up to eight meters

Bark / branches:

• Bark: gray-green, glossy, smooth and thin (young trees); gray-brown, thick, deeply longitudinally fissured (older oaks)
• Branches: green-brown

Sheet:

• Petiole: up to one centimeter
• Leaf blade: deeply indented, 5 - 6 lobes, smooth leaf margin, wavy on the petiole, 10 to 15 centimeters long and 7 to 8 centimeters wide
• Upper side of the leaf: deep green, shiny
• Underside of leaf: lighter, e.g. T. blue-greenish
• Autumn color: golden brown

Acorns:

• in clusters (3 to 5 acorns)
• up to 3.5 inches long
• Fruit cup: stem up to 4 centimeters long
• envelops the fruit up to a third

Sessile oak (Quercus petraea)

• Occurrence: parks, gardens, roadside, forest tree
• Soil: sandy-loamy to very loamy, tolerates wet locations well

Growth:

• Height: up to 35 meters
• Crown: high arched with branches radiating outwards
• Trunk diameter: up to two meters

Bark / branches:

• Bark: pale gray-green, shiny and smooth (young trees); gray-brown, deep longitudinal cracks (older oaks)
• Twigs: dark gray, partly reddened, with gray frost

Sheet:

• Petiole: up to two centimeters, yellow
• Leaf blade: slightly indented, smooth leaf margin, 5 to 8 lobes, up to 14 centimeters long and up to 7 centimeters wide
• Upper side of the leaf: glossy, deep green
• Underside of the leaf: lighter
• Autumn color: yellow

Acorns:

• heaped sitting (3 to 7 acorns)
• 1.5 to 2.5 inches long
• Fruit cups: almost sessile, downy hairy
• envelops the fruit by about half

Naturalized oak species

In addition to the native species, there are also oak species that are now considered naturalized because they have been growing in this country for several centuries. With the exception of the red oak, however, they are rarely found.

Evergreen oak (Quercus x turneri, "Pseudoturneri")

• Another common name: Wintergreen Oak, Turner's Oak
• Origin: English crossing around 1780
• since 19. Naturalized in Germany in the 19th century
• Occurrence: parks and gardens
• Soil: all soils, sensitive to soil compaction

Growth:

• Height: up to 15 meters
• Crown: conical to uniform, rounded

Bark / branches:

• Bark: grayish, smooth (young trees); dark brown, cracked (older oaks)
• Branches: yellowish-brown

Sheet:

• Leaf blade: obovate, up to 12 centimeters long
• Upper side of the leaf: dark green
• Underside of leaf: lighter to grayish
• Autumn color: evergreen

Acorns:

• in clusters (3 to 7 acorns)
• a good two centimeters long
• Cup: hemispherical, felty

Red oak (Quercus rubra)

• Another common name: American Spitzeichen, American oak
• Occurrence: parks, gardens, roadside, forest tree
• since the end of the 17th / Beginning of the 18th Century in Germany
• Origin: eastern North America
• Soil: sandy-loamy to very loamy

Note: The red oak makes up about 0.5 percent of the German forest.

Growth:

• Height: over 30 meters
• Crown: round
• Trunk diameter: up to two meters

Bark / branches:

• Bark: grayish, smooth (young trees), thin-scaly (older oaks)
• Branches: red-brown with light lenticels

Sheet:

• Petiole: yellowish
• Leaf blade: deeply indented to lobed, tapering lobes, smooth leaf margin, up to 22 centimeters long
• Leaf color: green
• Autumn color: orange-brown

Acorns:

• Length and diameter about two centimeters
• Fruit cup: flat, stem about one centimeter long

Scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea)

• since the end of the 18th Century in Germany
• Occurrence: parks, gardens
• Origin: eastern North America
• Location: Sun to light shade; Parks and gardens (rare)
• Floor: all floors

Growth:

• Height: 20 to 25 meters
• Crown: densely conical (young trees), later irregular and somewhat loose
• Trunk diameter: more than one meter

Bark / branches:

• Bark: silver-gray and smooth (young trees), brown / dark gray and cracked (older oaks)
• Branches: red-brown, warty

Sheet:

• Petiole: up to three inches long
• Leaf blade: deeply lobed, slightly serrated lobes, pointed leaf ends, up to 18 centimeters long and up to 13 centimeters wide
• Leaf color: green
• Autumn color: (scarlet) red

Acorns:

• up to two inches long
• Fruit cups: flat, broad-scaled

Hungarian oak (Quercus frainetto)

• Another common name: Italian oak
• Occurrence: (palace) parks, botanical gardens
• Origin: Southern Italy, Balkans
• in Germany since 18. / 19. century
• Soil: well drained, not too calcareous

Growth:

• Height: up to over 30 meters, short-stemmed
• Crown: ovate to spherical
• Trunk diameter: up to 2 meters

Bark / branches:

• Bark: light gray to brownish, interspersed with cracks and furrows
• Branches: smooth, brownish with lenticels

Sheet:

• Petiole: up to one centimeter long petiole
• Leaf blade: oblong to obovate, strongly indented, 7 to 10 lobes, smooth leaf margin, up to 20 centimeters long and up to 12 centimeters wide
• Upper side of the leaf: dark green
• Underside of leaf: pale green
• Autumn color: copper yellow to brown

Acorns:

• sitting in groups of two or four
• up to two inches long
• Surround at least a third of the fruit cup

Note: The Hungarian oak is rarely found in Hungary because the soils are too calcareous.

Zerr oak (Quercus cerris)

• Occurrence: parks, gardens, roadside, but also in the great outdoors
• Origin: Southern France, Italy, Southeast Europe, Austria
• naturalized in Germany probably already in Roman times
• Soil: sandy-loamy to very loamy

Growth:

• Height: up to 35 meters
• Crown: broad
• Trunk diameter: up to almost five meters

Bark / branches:

• Bark: thick, hard, dark gray, longitudinally fissured
• Branches: gray-green

Sheet:

• Petiole: short
• Leaf blade: elliptical, deeply lobed, smooth leaf margin, up to 13 centimeters long
• Upper side of the leaf: dark green, leathery, rough
• Underside of the leaf: gray-green, tomentose, leathery, rough
• Autumn color: different shades of brown

Acorns:

• in small tufts (up to three acorns)
• up to 3 inches long
• Fruit cup: prickly, short stem
• envelops the fruit halfway

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