Fagaceae

Oaks, chestnut and beech

From Streeter et al. (2016, p. 98) the description is given as:

"A family of predominantly long-lived forest trees. Leaves are deciduous or evergreen, alternate, with stipules that fall early. Flowers are unisexual, usually borne in different inflorescences on the same tree (monoecious), small and inconspicuous, regular; perianth 4-6-lobed; male flowers in catkins or tassel-like heads; female flowers in groups of 1-2, surrounded by small scales. Fruit is 1-seeded nut in groups of 1-3, surrounded by a scaly or spiny 'cup' formed from the enlarged scales"

For the specimen(s) below, hover over image in gallery for description and select for a full screen preview.

ID: 028

Date: 06 June 2024

Locality: Page Hill, Buckingham

Location (Lat/Long): 52.007, -0.976

Landscape/habitat: On a strip of land between a school and a cul-de-sac road.

Identification notes: I spotted this Oak near the local primary school. It had typical 'oak-shaped' leaves i.e. lobed, but to confirm the species we can check the descriptions in Streeter et al. (2016, p. 98). Of the 4 species of Quercus listed, we can see that the 'underside of leaf glabrous', rather than 'finely pubescent' AND the it has '3-5 pairs, rather unequal' leaf lobes, rather than '4-6 pairs, rather equal' indicating this is Pedunculate Oak Quercus robur rather than Sessile Oak Quercus petraea.

Turkey Oak Quercus cerris is 'downy beneath', amongst other features and Evergreen Oak Quercus ilex leaf shape is different 'toothed, teeth sharp-pointed'.

We can see from the photos there are some old catkins present, a character of Fagaceae.

I also saw a shieldbug, I believe a red-legged shieldbug Pentatoma rufipes which is known to favour a variety of broad-leaved trees. I am attempting to curate a collection of shieldbugs (and allies) but I didn't have any equipment with me to collect this specimen, so it was lucky!

Name: Pedunculate Oak, Quercus robur

References

Streeter, D., Hart-Davies, C., Hardcastle, A., Cole, F. and Harper, L. (2016) Collins wild flower guide. Revised and updated 2nd edition. edn. London: William Collins.