Botanical lore
Perhaps known best for its impressive
longevity of one thousand years and more,
oaks usually live for six to eight hundred years. It is also well known for its
strong, durable wood that has been highly valued since time immemorial.
Less well-known is that, with more than five hundred species of insects depending on it for food and shelter, and a large number of birds and animals, oak is well named as king of the forest. Its acorns contain approximately seventy per cent starch and sugar, and six per cent protein. Unlike other members of the beech family (including sweet chestnut) which grow in closed and spiky containers, oak acorns ripen in open cups - those of the pedunculate oak sit on long stalks (with nearly stalkless leaves), while those of the sessile oak are the other way round. Oaks are wind pollinated, carrying both sexes on the same tree and, since both squirrels and jays bury acorns as larders (which are then often forgotten), regeneration of oaks is not under threat!
Curiously, oak is sensitive to hard
frost, which is why it does not grow in the
north of Siberia and why it is one of the last trees to produce leaves in
spring. However, dry or moist soil conditions enable it to thrive well, hence
its predominance in Britain. Where soils do not allow its roots to develop fully
it often loses out to its close relative, the beech. Its bark protects the oak
from heat, and can help it survive forest fires, although lightning strikes the
oak more often than most trees, a fact highlighted in its mythology as well of
interest scientifically. Oaks like to grow above subterranean watercourses and -
importantly - they possess strong electrical currents. Experiments have shown
that the electrical current of an oak is far higher than that of any other tree
in temperate climates (birch comes close, but are much smaller trees and
fluctuate more depending on the amount of light available).
The root system of the pedunculate oak is gigantic, supporting a thick trunk with
powerful metabolism and great vitality. While its overall shape is often wider
than it is high (slender oaks only occur in densely packed plantations), it can
grow very irregularly in shape, with single branches spreading far out. Indeed,
sudden changes of branch direction and an irregular crown are typical features
of the oak, and its overall canopy, like its irregularly lobed leaves, are
distinctive.
This irregularity of growth is not accidental since, as with its electrical
sensitivity, oak is also influenced by planetary activity, most particularly
Mars. This planet has the greatest dynamic effect on plant growth, which means
that every time Mars is behind the sun its distance away from us is roughly
seven times greater than it is just over a year later, when Earth and Mars are
both orbiting on the same side of the Sun. In this latter phase, Mars stimulates
root growth and, when the planet spins off and away again, it and the sun
stimulate upward growth. Although all plants are open to this influence, most
are modified by other forces, so that oak remains as a clear example of
planetary effects, just as the tides demonstrate most clearly the effects of the
moon.
Whilst very bitter to the taste, oak has very high levels of tannic acid, which
makes it excellent for tanning leather, so that immersing oak and leather in
large tubs of water has been practised since Neolithic times. It is also
antiseptic, with sterilising properties, and its bark or leaves have similarly
been made into a tea for countless years as cure for bleeding, diarrhoea (it
causes constipation), infections of the digestive tract, liver and bladder
problems. Other uses have been for gargles, washes and baths, and for treating
rashes, wounds, burns, haemorrhoids, bleeding gums and swollen tonsils. In hard
times, acorns were used as food. Because of their bitterness, acorns were
usually cut and soaked in water for a few days, changing the water until it
became lighter in colour, when the acorns could be dried or roasted, and ground
into flour (for bread). Roasted and ground acorns can make a coffee, while a
homoeopathic tincture, Quercus, is also made from acorns to help with problems
of the liver and especially the spleen. As a Bach Flower Remedy, oak relates to
strength and endurance, appropriate for people who take will power and devotion
to duty too far.
Extra notes: 70-80 years before produces acorns. growth rate after 100 years 1 inch per year; Wood: for boat-building, barrels, beams and many uses in building, fencing, mining, garden furniture, sawdust for smoking herrings. Bark: red and brown dyes, with galls a black dye and medicinally for treating malaria, dysentry, bleeding gums, sore throat, haemorrhage, boiling it gives tonic for harness sores. Twigs: toothbrushes Galls: make ink. Acorns: wine.
beech family: fagaceae pedunculate oak (quercus robar) sessile oak (quercus petraea)