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Oak Tree Facts: 7 Surprising Discoveries
Oak trees (Quercus) are ubiquitous with the UK countryside, their deeply-lobed green leaves, attractive acorns (which are like catnip for squirrels) and huge, gnarled trunks proving a favourite for many an arborist. With hundreds of oak species out there and a history richer than the gooiest chocolate brownie, we thought it would be worthwhile investigating some facts about these mighty trees. Oakey-dokey then, let’s get cracking.
Jump to:
- Oaks are long-lived
- Acorns aren't automatic
- Druids loved the oak
- A royal hideout
- HMS Victory timber
- 80-year wedding anniversaries
- Oak-derived ink
1. Oaks can live a long time!
Oak trees don’t rush their lives, but rather grow slowly and steadily, with the oldest known oak trees living many hundreds of years. The oldest UK oak tree is thought to be King Offa’s Oak, in Windsor Great Park, which, according to estimates, has been standing for between 1,300 and 1,500 years. The title of world’s oldest oak tree typically goes to the Wi'áaşal oak tree (also known as the Pechanga Great Oak Tree) which stands in California, and is said to be as much as 2,000 years old. Talk about staying power.
2. Acorns aren’t produced immediately
While many of us associate oak trees with their distinctive acorns, most oak trees don’t actually start producing acorns until they’re at least 30-40 years old. This is how long it takes for an oak to reach full maturity, at which point it will start producing acorns. Nor do mature oak trees necessarily produce many (or any) acorns every single year. However, in those years when oak trees go into overdrive and produce a bumper crop of acorns – also known as mast years – they can produce as many as 10,000!
3. Oaks were revered by the druids
The oak tree has held cultural significance in many countries across the world, perhaps no more so than for the Celtic druids of Wales, Cornwall, Ireland, etc. The association between these priest-like figures and the oak tree was first asserted by the renowned Roman author, Pliny the Elder, with a potential meaning of the Celtic word druid being something along the lines of ‘oak-knower’. Whether this was indeed the meaning of the word is contentious even today, however we can at least somewhat reliably infer from Pliny’s writings that the oak was significant to the druids, with worship and rites taking place in oak groves.
4. Providing a royal hideaway
One of the most famous oaks is the ‘Royal Oak’ at Boscobel House, in Shropshire. In the aftermath of the Battle of Worcester, in 1651, the last major engagement in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, Charles II – whose forces had been roundly beaten at the battle – did, it would be fair to call, a runner. Chased by Cromwell’s parliamentarians, ol’ Charlie boy (alongside royalist officer William Careless) sequestered himself within an oak situated in the grounds of Boscobel House, a property known for sheltering Catholic priests. Ultimately, things worked out for Charles, with the monarchy being restored in 1660, and Charles serving as king until his death in 1685. Long story short, oaks make good hiding places…
5. Looking shipshape, cap’n
Oak was historically used to build sailing ships, the most notable of which perhaps being HMS Victory, the flagship star of 1805’s Battle of Trafalgar, whose 104 guns and more than 800 crew oversaw victory against the French and Spanish navies, and on whose deck were Admiral Horatio Nelson’s famous (though debated) last words, “Kiss me, Hardy” were uttered. It’s thought that around 5,400-5,500 oak trees were used in the ship’s construction, though much of this has now been replaced by wood like teak, which has better fungal-resistant properties.
6. Do we hear wedding bells?
You’ve probably heard of silver, gold and diamond wedding anniversaries, but how about oak? Admittedly, it’s a rarely-reached milestone, given that you need to be wed for a whopping 80 years to secure the wooden bragging rights, however what a milestone. Signifying both strength and longevity, we can think of few better trees to mark such an epic anniversary.
7. Laying down a written record
These days, most of us use a ballpoint pen to write (if we physically write at all). But whereas today might be an era of tip-tap-typing, go back a few hundred years and you’d have seen pot after pot filled with a dark inky liquid. This ink was used to pen, amongst countless other documents, the Domesday Book, Magna Carta and Shakespeare’s will (they missed a trick by not calling it his William…). Primarily derived from oak galls – swelling growths caused by parasitic wasp larvae – oak gall ink (more commonly known as iron gall ink) was used for a 1,400-year period, between the 5th and 19th centuries.
Final thoughts
So, there you have it, your oak knowledge has gone from piddly sapling to tree-hemoth in just a matter of minutes. Doesn’t it feel good? If you want to plant an oak tree in your own garden, then make sure you give it the best start by planting it right. Check out our guide to tree planting – which includes planting both potted and bare root trees – to ensure your tree grows as well as possible.
