Quercus cerris L.
Turkey oak
Large deciduous tree (to c. 25 m tall in cultivation), with strongly fissured grey bark. Shoots ± tomentose when young. Buds hairy, surrounded by hairy, long-filiform, persistent stipules. Petiole to c. 2 cm long, hairy. Lamina on adult shoots 6-14 × 2-8 cm, oblong- lanceolate to oblong-obovate, with 5-8 pairs of lobes or teeth, sometimes lyrate-pinnatifid, whitish or grey-tomentose beneath (hairs simple or stellate), glabrescent and ± shining above with scattered stellate hairs, somewhat viscid when very young, membranous, cuneate at base; lobes varying from deep to shallow, sometimes extending almost to midrib, with teeth obtuse, acute or mucronate. ♂ catkins slender, to 8 cm long, densely hairy; stamens usually 4; perianth > filaments. Fr. in clusters of 1-4 fertile ones, reaching maturity in second year, subsessile or with pedicel very short; peduncle 0. Cup 2-2.5 cm diam.; scales subulate, spreading or recurved, hairy. Acorn 2-2.3 cm long, oblong-ovoid, < 1/2 enclosed by cup.
S.;
S. and C. Europe, S.W. Asia 1880
Occasional in and around parks, plantations and old estates, usually where partly shaded.
FL Oct-Nov.
Turkey oak is a commonly cultivated tree in N.Z., especially in the South Id and E. parts of the North Id. Fertile acorns are often freely produced. The sp. is variable in N.Z., but the very hairy lf undersurfaces distinguish it from any other deciduous oak commonly encountered here. The filamentous spreading cup scales distinguish it from all other oaks commonly grown with the exception of Q. acutissima Carruth., a deciduous oak with lvs bristle-toothed but not lobed and soon becoming almost glabrous beneath.
