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Fagaceae FAMILY Least Concern

Quercus robur

Quercus robur

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
3/5

Safety & Hazards

All parts of the plant contain tannins. Whilst tannins are found in many foods, and have a range of medicinal uses. They are usually only present in low concentrations. In some foods made from oaks (particularly the seeds), the tannin content can be quite high unless the food is treated to reduce tannin content. Tannins are only of low toxicity and, because of their bitter taste and astringency, are unlikely to be eaten in large quantities. However, if they are taken in excess, they can cause stomach pains; constipation followed by bloody diarrhoea: excessive thirst; and excessive urination[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitDeciduous Tree
GrowthSlow

Quercus robor is a very cold-hardy tree, tolerating temperatures down to around -30°c when dormant. Prefers a good deep fertile loam which can be on the stiff side[2]. Young plants tolerate reasonable levels of side shade[3]. Succeeds in heavy clay soils[4] and in wet soils so long as the ground is not water-logged for long periods[5]. Dislikes dry or shallow soils but is otherwise drought tolerant once it is established[5]. Tolerant of exposed sites though it dislikes salt-laden winds[5]. The oak is a very important timber tree in Britain, it is also a very important food plant for the caterpillars of many species of butterfly[6], there are 284 insect species associated with this tree[7]. It has often been coppiced or pollarded for its wood in the past[8], though this should not be done too frequently[5], about once every 50 years is the average. The tree flowers on new growth produced in spring, the seed ripening in its first year[3, 9]. Older trees have a thick corky bark and this can protect them from forest fires, young trees will often regenerate from the base if cut down or killed back by a fire[5]. Trees can be managed by coppicing in order to provide material for basket making, fuel, construction etc[8]. Seedlings soon develop a taproot and become intolerant of root disturbance, they should be planted into their permanent positions whilst young[2]. Hybridizes freely with other members of the genus[3]. Immune to attacks by the tortix moth[10]. This species is notably resistant to honey fungus[11, 3].

Propagation

Seed - it quickly loses viability if it is allowed to dry out. It can be stored moist and cool overwinter but is best sown as soon as it is ripe in an outdoor seed bed, though it must be protected from mice, squirrels etc. Small quantities of seed can be sown in deep pots in a cold frame. Plants produce a deep taproot and need to be planted out into their permanent positions as soon as possible, in fact seed sown in situ will produce the best trees[2]. Trees should not be left in a nursery bed for more than 2 growing seasons without being moved or they will transplant very badly. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Quercus+robur>

Pollinators

Wind

References

  1. [1]Poisonous Plants of North Carolina — http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/poison.htm ↩︎An excellent concise but comprehensive guide to toxic plants that grow in N. Carolina. It lists even those plants that are of very low toxicity, including several well-known food plants such as carrots and potatoes.
  2. [2]Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. — Bean. W. · Murray · 1981 · ISBN - ↩︎A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.
  3. [3]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  4. [4]Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. — Triska. Dr. · Hamlyn · 1975 · ISBN 0-600-33545-3 ↩︎Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.
  5. [5]Planting Native Trees and Shrubs. — Beckett. G. and K. · Jarrold · 1979 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent guide to native British trees and shrubs with lots of details about the plants.
  6. [6]Butterflies and Moths in Britain and Europe. — Carter D. · Pan · 1982 · ISBN 0-330-26642-x ↩︎An excellent book on Lepidoptera, it also lists their favourite food plants.
  7. [7]Making a Wildlife Garden. — Baines. C. ↩︎Fairly good with lots of ideas about creating wildlife areas in the garden.
  8. [8]Complete Book of Baskets and Basketry. — Wright. D. · David & Charles; Newton Abbot. · 1977 · ISBN 0-7153-7449-4 ↩︎Not that complete but very readable and well illustrated.
  9. [9]The Complete Trees of N. America. Field Guide and Natural History. — Elias. T. · Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. · 1980 · ISBN 0442238622 ↩︎A very good concise guide. Gives habitats, good descriptions, maps showing distribution and a few of the uses. It also includes the many shrubs that occasionally reach tree proportions.
  10. [10]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  11. [11]The Garden. Volume 112. — RHS. · Royal Horticultural Society · 1987 · ISBN - ↩︎Snippets of information from the magazine of the RHS. In particular, there are articles on plants that are resistant to honey fungus, oriental vegetables, Cimicifuga spp, Passiflora species and Cucurbits.
  12. [12]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  13. [13]Flora of China — Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. · 1994 · http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ ↩︎An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available.
  14. [14]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
  15. [15]Flora of the British Isles. — Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. · Cambridge University Press · 1962 · ISBN - ↩︎A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
  16. [16]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  17. [17]Food for Free. — Mabey. R. · Collins · 1974 · ISBN 0-00-219060-5 ↩︎Edible wild plants found in Britain. Fairly comprehensive, very few pictures and rather optimistic on the desirability of some of the plants.
  18. [18]Free for All. — Ceres. · Thorsons Publishers · 1977 · ISBN 0-7225-0445-4 ↩︎Edible wild plants in Britain. Small booklet, nothing special.
  19. [19]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  20. [20]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  21. [21]Nuts. — Howes. F. N. · Faber · 1948 · ISBN - ↩︎Rather old but still a masterpiece. Has sections on tropical and temperate plants with edible nuts plus a section on nut plants in Britain. Very readable.
  22. [22]The Herb Book. — Lust. J. · Bantam books · 1983 · ISBN 0-553-23827-2 ↩︎Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
  23. [23]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  24. [24]Plants for Human Consumption. — Kunkel. G. · Koeltz Scientific Books · 1984 · ISBN 3874292169 ↩︎An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of Latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
  25. [25]Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants. — Chiej. R. · MacDonald · 1984 · ISBN 0-356-10541-5 ↩︎Covers plants growing in Europe. Also gives other interesting information on the plants. Good photographs.
  26. [26]Edible and Medicinal Plants. — Launert. E. · Hamlyn · 1981 · ISBN 0-600-37216-2 ↩︎Covers plants in Europe. a drawing of each plant, quite a bit of interesting information.
  27. [27]The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism. — Mills. S. Y. ↩︎An excellent small herbal.
  28. [28]Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities of Some Quercus Species Growing in Turkey — Didem Söhretoğlu; Melike Ekizoğlu; Ekrem Kiliç; M. Koray Sak · 2007 ↩︎
  29. [29]Handbook of the Bach Flower Remedies — Chancellor. P. M. · C. W. Daniel Co. Ltd. · 1985 · ISBN 85207 002 0 ↩︎Details the 38 remedies plus how and where to prescribe them.
  30. [30]Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. — Riotte. L. · Garden Way, Vermont, USA. · 1978 · ISBN 0-88266-064-0 ↩︎Fairly good.
  31. [31]A - Z of Companion Planting. — Allardice.P. · Cassell Publishers Ltd. · 1993 · ISBN 0-304-34324-2 ↩︎A well produced and very readable book.
  32. [32]Commonsense Compost Making. — Bruce. M. E. · Faber · 1977 · ISBN 0-571-09990-4 ↩︎Excellent little booklet dealing with how to make compost by using herbs to activate the heap. Gives full details of the herbs that are used.
  33. [33]Companion Plants. — Philbrick H. and Gregg R. B. · Watkins · 1979 · ISBN - ↩︎Details of beneficial and antagonistic relationships between neighbouring plants.
  34. [34]From Agar to Zenery. — Freethy. R. · The Crowood Press · 1985 · ISBN 0-946284-51-2 ↩︎Very readable, giving details on plant uses based on the authors own experiences.
  35. [35]Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th edition. — ? ↩︎It contains a few things of interest to the plant project.
  36. [36]Vegetable Tannins — Rottsieper. E.H.W. · The Forestal Land, Timber and Railways Co. Ltd. · 1946 · ISBN - ↩︎A fairly detailed treatise on the major sources of vegetable tannins.
  37. [37]World Woods in Colour — Lincoln W.A. · Stobart Davies Ltd., Hertford, England · 1986 · ISBN 0-85442-028-2 ↩︎An extremely nice book with information about the wood of several hundred species of tree, including a very good photo of the grain.
  38. [38]Plants with a Purpose. — Mabey. R. · Fontana · 1979 · ISBN 0-00-635555-2 ↩︎Details on some of the useful wild plants of Britain. Poor on pictures but otherwise very good.
  39. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎