Jolcham oak
Quercus serrata · Fagaceae · 졸참나무
How to spot it
Among oaks, its acorn cup and cup scales are the smallest, covering less than a third of the nut.
Look
- Leaves
- Obovate-elliptic or ovate-lanceolate, 2 to 10 (19) cm long and 1.5 to 7 (10) cm wide, with a pointed tip and teeth that curve somewhat inward with a gland at the tip. There are 3 to 17 pairs of side veins and the leaf stalk is 10 to 23 mm long.
- Flowers
- Blooms in April to May. Male catkins are 8 to 12 cm long and hang down; female catkins are 1.5 to 3 cm long and stand upright.
- Fruit
- The cup scales are lanceolate and the smallest among oaks, and the cup is also the smallest, 2 to 12 mm deep, covering less than a third of the nut. The nut is elliptic, 4 to 28 mm long, and matures in late September.
- Bark
- The bark is grayish-white and smooth at first, later shallowly fissured lengthwise. Stiff hairs grow densely on one-year-old twigs.
Where it grows
- In Korea
- Native (Korean Peninsula)
- Native to
- Also found in the Himalayas, Japan, Taiwan and China; in Korea it grows throughout the peninsula (nationwide except the remote north, at 100 to 1,800 m elevation).
- Ecology
- Not particular about site and common in hills and fields; grows vigorously on deep soil on gentle slopes and withstands cold well. It resprouts strongly and grows fast.