Cork Oak
Quercus suber · Fagaceae · 코르크참나무
How to spot it
Very thick, corky bark covering the trunk and large branches, and leathery leaves with gray hairs underneath.
Look
- Leaves
- Leathery leaves are dark green above and gray and hairy beneath.
- Flowers
- Male flowers hang in long greenish-yellow catkins; female flowers sit 2 to 4 together in small clusters in the leaf axils.
- Fruit
- Long, narrow acorns are about half covered by a cup-shaped cupule with rough scales.
- Bark
- Thick, corky bark is deeply fissured.
Where it grows
- Native to
- Western and central Mediterranean.
- Ecology
- Grows in forests and open woodland and tolerates drought. In its native range the acorns are recorded as an important food for mammals.