There are some nice young trees scattered about Bedgebury, and I rather think this is one of them, above one of the paths going away from the visitor centre.
The Chinese Cork Oak, Quercus variabilis Blume, is found across the Far East - China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, and has sometimes been used commercially for cork production - although the productivity and quality is rather poor. In Korea there are trees that can be seen with evidence of cork removal from the trunks up to "ladder-height". It is rarely planted in the UK and USA, but it may be considered as fairly ornamental, and young trees hold their leaves into the start of the winter period. It was first introduced to England by Robert Fortune in 1861.
The leaves are quite Sweet Chestnut-like, ovate-lanceolate, but very bright green and particularly glossy, with the obvious veins (13 - 18 pairs) ending in bristle-like extensions. The petioles are relatively long, often several inches. The Collins book hasn't quite got the margins of the leaf right, making the lobes too "rounded". However the specific epithet - variabilis - does refer to variability in the leaves, so perhaps I shouldn't be over-critical. The twig has been said to be somewhat shiny, as it appears here.
Importantly the underside of the leaves are grey-woolly overall, not just on the underside of the veins, but I don't have a good picture of that. But, here are some new, and even replacement, leaves developing.
The bark on the trunk is corky from an early age - these trees are 16 years old (on this site) and are also bearing acorns (which I would love to collect this autumn - if I remember!) The acorns are very rounded or semi-globose and fairly fully covered in curved mossy bristles.
The winter buds are said to be pointed. The tree is thought to be hardy, and to tolerate some shade. It is said to prefer moist loamy or clay soils.
No comments:
Post a Comment