Quercus macranthera Fisch. & Mey.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton

Recommended citation
'Quercus macranthera' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/quercus/quercus-macranthera/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

Genus

  • Quercus
  • Subgen. Quercus, Sect. Quercus

Infraspecifics

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

lanceolate
Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
lobe
Division of a leaf or other object. lobed Bearing lobes.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Article from New Trees by John Grimshaw & Ross Bayton

Recommended citation
'Quercus macranthera' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/quercus/quercus-macranthera/). Accessed 2024-03-18.

A deciduous tree up to 60 ft high, with very stout young shoots and leaf­stalks covered with a thick, soft, greyish down that becomes dark, and persists through the second season; buds clothed with slender, hairy stipules 34 in. long. Leaves broadly obovate, tapered at the base, the margin conspicuously cut into seven to eleven rounded lobes down either side, each lobe 12 to 1 in. deep, sometimes with one to three teeth on its lower side. The largest leaves are 6 in. long and 4 in. wide, the smallest half as large, green, with minute hairs above, pale beneath, and clothed with soft down; stalk 12 to 58 in. long. Fruits scarcely stalked; acorns about 1 in. long, the lower half enclosed by a cup which is covered outside with erect, lanceolate, downy scales.

Native of the Caucasus and Transcaucasus, and of N. Iran (in the forest region south of the Caspian). It is one of the most distinct of the oaks of western Eurasia, with large leaves equalling Q. frainetto and Q. canariensis in that respect, but distinct from them in the densely downy shoots and undersurface of the leaves. A further distinction is that in neither of those species do the buds bear persistent stipules. Q. macranthera is quite hardy and occasionally produces fertile acorns in this country.

The date of introduction was given in previous editions as 1895, this being the year in which a plant was received at Kew from Späth’s nursery, Berlin. But William Barron and Son listed it in their catalogue for 1874, with no mention of its being a novelty, and the trees at Westonbirt are certainly older than any at Kew, and are believed to have been planted around 1878. The measurements of these are: in Mitchell Drive 80 × 634 ft (1972), in Broad Drive 60 × 7 ft (1967). Some others recorded recently are: Kew, pl. 1895, 47 × 314 ft (1965) and pl. 1908, 62 × 414 ft (1972), both in the Oak collection; Caerhays, Cornwall, 52 × 434 ft (1971); East Bergholt Place, Suffolk, 50 × 334 ft (1972); Jephson Park, Leamington, 46 × 4 ft (1971); Edinburgh Botanic Garden, three specimens of almost equal size, the largest 52 × 6 ft (1970).

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

specimens: Kew, in Oak Collection, pl. 1908, 66 × 5 ft and 56 × 334 ft (1986); Borde Hill, Sussex, 60 × 514 ft (1983); Sheffield Park, Sussex, Queen’s Walk, 74 × 734 ft (1979); Westonbirt, Glos., Mitchell Drive, pl. c. 1878, 95 × 712 ft and, in Broad Drive, 74 × 8 ft (1979–80); Stratford Park, Stroud, Glos., 52 × 634 ft (1984); Hidcote Manor, Glos., 66 × 7 ft (1983); Melbury, Dorset, 66 × 10 ft (1980); Edinburgh Botanic Garden, 73 × 612 ft (1985).

From New Trees

Quercus macranthera Fisch. & C.A. Mey. ex Hohen.

(Subgen. Quercus, Sect. Quercus)

Caucasian Oak

This species was described by Bean (B493, S412) and Krüssmann (K96).


subsp. syspirensis (K. Koch) Menitsky

This subspecies forms a small tree, 7–10 m, with leaves 5–10(–12) × 3–5 cm with five to nine short regular lobes. The leaves are dark green and glabrous or sparsely pubescent above and densely covered with yellowish brown stellate pubescence below; the petiole is tomentose, 0.5–2 cm long. The cupule is 1.5 cm diameter, light brown with ovate-lanceolate scales, and covers one-third to half of the acorn. Subsp. syspirensis differs from the typical subspecies in that the stipules persist only on the terminal bud rather than on all buds. Subsp. macranthera is generally larger in all parts, and is found in the Caucasus and northern Iran. Hedge & Yaltirik 1994. Distribution TURKEY. Habitat Oak-pine woodland on dry slopes between 1000 and 1900 m asl. USDA Hardiness Zone 5. Conservation status Not evaluated. Illustration Ertas 1995.

As seen in the United Kingdom, plants of this subspecies might well be named ‘uninspirensis’; those observed for the present work are really rather dull and uninteresting in appearance. The largest is a specimen of 5.3 m (2008) at the Hillier Gardens, from TURX 124, collected in 1991 in Zonguldak Province, Turkey, which appears to be growing steadily. In mitigation of this view, however, Eike Jablonski (pers. comm. 2006) points out that it is a slow-growing tree, suitable for small gardens and rock-garden planting.