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Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
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'Quercus frainetto' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
A deciduous tree of stately habit, up to 100 ft high in the wild; young shoots slightly downy, glabrous and grey the second year. Leaves obovate, but deeply cut into six to ten oblong lobes at each side, the largest of which are 2 in. deep, and penetrate from half to three quarters of the distance towards the midrib; they frequently have two to five rounded teeth on one or both sides. The largest leaves are 6 to 8 in. long, and 3 to 41⁄2 in. wide; the smallest about half those dimensions, all tapering at the base to a short stalk 1⁄3 in. or less long, the blade usually prolonged at each side into a pair of short auricles. The upper surface is dark green and soon becomes glabrous, the lower one downy, and greyish green. Fruits 1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in. long, scarcely stalked, produced two to four together, the lower half of the acorn enclosed by the cup, which is clothed outside with flattened downy scales.
Native of S. Italy, the Balkans, Rumania, and parts of Hungary; introduced about 1837. It is one of the handsomest of all oaks of the sessile-flowered group, and thrives well in cultivation. It is only likely to be confused with Q. macranthera, a species very distinct, nevertheless, in its woolly shoots and in its buds with long, persistent stipules. Occasional crops of acorns are produced on cultivated trees.
At Kew the oldest specimen of the Hungarian oak is a grafted one, planted about 1840 and measuring 70 × 111⁄4 ft (1971); in the Pagoda Vista there is a pair of trees received from the Knap Hill Nursery in 1893, also grafted, the larger of which measures 67 × 10 ft (1965). Other notable specimens are: Osterley Park, London, 75 × 101⁄4 ft with a bole of 40 ft, and another 77 × 103⁄4 ft (1965); Syon Park, London, 75 × 111⁄4 ft (1967); Grayswood Hill, Surrey, 70 × 103⁄4 ft (1971); Brook House, Ardingly, Sussex, 60 × 11 ft (1973); Woburn, Beds., 60 × 111⁄4 ft (1962); Stratfield Saye, Hants, 85 × 101⁄2 ft (1968); Westonbirt, Glos., in the Park 70 × 111⁄4 ft (1966), in Main Drive, 85 × 91⁄2 ft (1970); Tortworth, Glos., 90 × 101⁄2 ft (1964); Munden, Herts, pl. 1885, 85 × 91⁄4 ft (1968); Edinburgh Botanic Garden, pl. c. 1856, moved 1865, 67 × 8 ft (1967),
specimens: Kew, pl. c. 1840, 74 × 111⁄2 ft (1975) and, in Pagoda Vista, 75 × 121⁄2 ft (1984); Osterley Park, London, 102 × 113⁄4 ft, with a 40 ft bole, and 98 × 111⁄2 ft (1982); Syon Park, London, 105 × 131⁄4 ft (1982); Avenue House, Barnet, London, 77 × 121⁄2 ft (1983); Grayswood Hill, Haslemere, Surrey, 82 × 113⁄4 ft (1982); Brook House, Ardingly, Sussex, 60 × 11 ft (1973); Woburn, Beds., 71 × 12 ft (1977); Stratfield Saye, Hants, 101 × 123⁄4 ft and 115 × 11 ft (1982); Westonbirt, Glos., in the Park, 71 × 123⁄4 ft (1982); Tortworth, Glos., 85 × 12 ft (1978); Holker, Lancs., 98 × 133⁄4 ft (1983); Edinburgh Botanic Garden, 76 × 8 ft (1981); Dalmeny House, W. Lothian, 77 × 101⁄2 ft (1984); Carberry Tower, E. Lothian, 102 × 131⁄4 ft, a fine tree (1985); Cortachy Castle, Angus, pl. 1897, 82 × 91⁄2 ft (1981); Camperdown Park, near Dundee, 108 × 11 ft (1985); National Botanic Garden, Glasnevin, Eire, 71 × 111⁄4 ft (1975).