The sessile oak is a large deciduoustree up to 40 metres (130 feet) tall,[11] in the white oak section of the genus (Quercus sect. Quercus) and similar to the pedunculate oak (Q. robur), with which it overlaps extensively in range. The leaves are 7–14 centimetres (2+3⁄4–5+1⁄2 inches) long and 4–8cm (1+1⁄2–3in) broad, evenly lobed with five to six lobes on each side and a 1cm-long (1⁄2in)petiole. The male flowers are grouped into catkins, produced in the spring. The fruit is an acorn2–3cm (3⁄4–1+1⁄4in) long and 1–2cm (1⁄2–3⁄4in) broad, which matures in about six months.
Significant botanical differences from pedunculate oak (Q.robur) include the stalked leaves, and the stalkless (sessile) acorns from which one of its common names is derived. (With the pedunculate oak, it is the acorns which are pedunculate, i.e. on stalks, while the leaves are not.) It occurs in upland areas of altitudes over 300m (984ft) with higher rainfall and shallow, acidic, sandy soils. Its specific epithetpetraea means "of rocky places".[12]Q.robur, on the other hand, prefers deeper, richer soils at lower altitude. Fertile hybrids with Quercus robur named Quercus × rosacea are found wherever the two parent species occur and share or are intermediate in characters between the parents.[citation needed]
The Welsh oak longhorn beetle (Pyrrhidium sanguineum) is named after its host tree; the larvae feed at the bark interface of dead wood.[14]
Uses
Sessile oak is one of the most important species in Europe both economically and ecologically. Oak timber is traditionally used for building, ships and furniture. Today the best woods are used for quality cabinetmaking, veneers and barrel staves.[15] Rougher material is used for fence construction, roof beams and specialist building work. The wood also has antimicrobial properties.[16][17] It is also a good fuel wood. During autumns with good acorn crops (the mast years), animals are traditionally grazed under the trees to fatten them.[18]
Known as "Wales's national tree", the Pontfadog Oak was a sessile oak considered to be the oldest oak tree in the UK. Located near Chirk in North Wales, its girth was measured as over 16 metres (53ft) in 1881 and it was understood to be over 1,200years old, an age that was due to regular pollarding for much of its life. The hollow trunk had a girth of 12.9m (42ft 5in).[19]
The tree died in April 2013 when it blew down in high winds.[20] However, the Crown Estate propagated a sapling from the original tree and planted it in Windsor Great Park.[21] A further five saplings have been cloned from the Pontfadog Oak, three of which will be planted at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, with the other two going to sites near Pontfadog; one at Chirk Castle and the other at Erddig, as part of a woodland memorial to those who died during the COVID-19 pandemic.[22]
The Fuck Tree is a sessile oak tree located in Hampstead Heath, north London. The tree is located in an established gay cruising area and is famous for its slender trunk which facilitates gay sex. Hampstead Heath has been used for gay cruising since the Victorian era, with the Fuck Tree being the most famous tree in the heath.[23] The Fuck Tree has gained recognition in LGBTQ+ art and culture, including the 2017 art film Fuck Tree by Liz Rosenfeld[24] and the 2023 art exhibition Soft Ground at the Gasworks Gallery by Trevor Yeung.[25]
↑ Mitchell, Alan (1974). "Field Guide to the Trees of Britain and Northern Europe (Collins Field Guide)", HarperCollins Distribution Services, New York. ISBN0002120356.
↑ Bullock, J.A. 1992. Host Plants of British Beetles: A List of Recorded Associations – Amateur Entomologists' Society (AES) publication volume 11a: A supplement to A Coleopterist's Handbook.
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