- Plants
- ›Vascular Plants
- ›flowering plants
- ›Dicots
- ›beeches, oaks, walnuts, and allies
- ›beech family
- ›Quercus
- ›Quercus
white oaks
Quercus
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus Quercus of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere, with some 475 species, both deciduous and evergreen. Fossil oaks date back to the Middle Eocene. Molecular phylogeny shows that the genus is divided into Old World and New World clades, but many oak species hybridise freely, making the genus's history difficult to resolve.
Ecologically, oaks are keystone species in habitats from Mediterranean semi-desert to subtropical rainforest. They live in association with many kinds of fungi, including truffles. Oaks support more than 950 species of caterpillar, many kinds of gall wasp which form distinctive galls (roundish woody lumps such as the oak apple), and a large number of pests and diseases. Oak leaves and acorns contain enough tannin to be toxic to cattle, but pigs are able to digest them safely. Oak timber is strong and hard, and has found many uses in construction and furniture-making. The bark was traditionally used for tanning leather. Wine barrels are made of oak; these are used for aging alcoholic beverages such as sherry and whisky, giving them a range of flavours, colours, and aromas. The spongy bark of the cork oak is used to make traditional wine bottle corks. Almost a third of oak species are threatened with extinction due to climate change, invasive pests, and habitat loss.
60 branches of this group, most-observed first
Quercus
subsectionQuercus
Albae
subsectionAlbae
Dumosae
subsectionDumosae
Prinoideae
subsectionPrinoideae
Stellatae
subsectionStellatae
Galliferae
subsectionGalliferae
Quercus section Polymorphae
subsectionPolymorphae
Pyrenean Oak
speciesQuercus pyrenaica
Sonoran scrub oak
speciesQuercus turbinella
netleaf oak
speciesQuercus rugosa
Engelmann oak
speciesQuercus engelmannii
gray oak
speciesQuercus grisea
Arizona white oak
speciesQuercus arizonica
Mongolian Oak
speciesQuercus mongolica
konara oak
speciesQuercus serrata
Mexican blue oak
speciesQuercus oblongifolia
Daimyo Oak
speciesQuercus dentata
Hungarian Oak
speciesQuercus frainetto
Oriental white oak
speciesQuercus aliena
Quercus × cerrioides
hybridQuercus × cerrioides
Quercus resinosa
speciesQuercus resinosa
Torrey's Hybrid Oak
hybridQuercus × acutidens
Wavyleaf Oak
hybridQuercus × undulata
pedunculate oak × sessile oak
hybridQuercus × rosacea
Quercus tuberculata
speciesQuercus tuberculata
Persian oak
speciesQuercus macranthera
Quercus berberidifolia × engelmannii
hybridQuercus berberidifolia × engelmannii
Quercus obtusata
speciesQuercus obtusata
Littleleaf Oak
speciesQuercus microphylla
Chicalaba
speciesQuercus insignis
Toumey oak
speciesQuercus toumeyi
Ewan's Oak
hybridQuercus × ewanii
Lacey Oak
speciesQuercus glaucoides
Quercus × subpyrenaica
hybridQuercus × subpyrenaica
Quercus potosina
speciesQuercus potosina
Faber's Oak
speciesQuercus fabri
Chihuahuan oak
speciesQuercus chihuahuensis
Quercus magnoliifolia
speciesQuercus magnoliifolia
k’antulán
speciesQuercus segoviensis
Quercus laeta
speciesQuercus laeta
Mexican Oak
speciesQuercus greggii
Bebb's Oak
hybridQuercus × bebbiana
Quercus striatula
speciesQuercus striatula
Quercus peduncularis
speciesQuercus peduncularis
Quercus deserticola
speciesQuercus deserticola
Quercus pringlei
speciesQuercus pringlei
Mexican Royal Oak
speciesQuercus germana
Munz's Oak
hybridQuercus × munzii
Quercus corrugata
speciesQuercus corrugata
Ware's Oak
hybridQuercus × warei
Coahuila Scrub Oak
speciesQuercus intricata
Ajo Mountain scrub oak
speciesQuercus ajoensis
Quercus sebifera
speciesQuercus sebifera
Quercus lancifolia
speciesQuercus lancifolia
strandzha oak
speciesQuercus hartwissiana
Jack Oak
hybridQuercus × jackiana
Quercus convallata
speciesQuercus convallata
Liaoning Oak
speciesQuercus wutaishanica
depressed oak
speciesQuercus depressipes
Quercus purulhana
speciesQuercus purulhana
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the old herbals & bestiaries
Notable Commentaries on the History of Plants
Leonhart Fuchs · 1542 · p.263
Notable Commentaries on the History of Plants
Leonhart Fuchs · 1549 · p.261
Six Groups of the History of Plants
Rembert Dodoens · 1583 · p.832
Six Groups of the History of Plants
Rembert Dodoens · 1583 · p.832
Ortus sanitatis
1491 · p.45
De medicinali materia libri sex
Dioscorides · 1552 · p.155
Commentaries on the Six Books of Dioscorides
Pietro Andrea Mattioli · 1560 · p.239
Commentaries on the Six Books of Dioscorides
Pietro Andrea Mattioli · 1560 · p.242
Discourses on the Six Books of Dioscorides
Dioscorides; Pietro Andrea Mattioli (comm.) · 1568 · p.1266
History of Rare Plants of Pannonia
Carolus Clusius · 1576 · p.19
History of Rare Plants Observed in Pannonia
Carolus Clusius · 1583 · p.18
History of Rare Plants
Carolus Clusius · 1601 · p.33
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Quercus in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 861033.