With its broad, spreading crown and crooked branches, the oak tree has a truly majestic presence on our landscape. Growing up to 40m in height and able to live as long as 1,000 years, this deciduous delight holds a very special place in our history, our culture and our hearts.
How to spot an oak
Oak leaves are very distinctive, but we actually have two different native varieties., popularly known as the common oak or English oak, has lobes at the base of each leaf (auricles) and long stalks that carry acorns – the tree’s seeds. Although it grows all over the British Isles, the common oak is more abundant in the south and east, and so has become particularly associated with England. The sessile oak (), which is sometimes known as the Cornish oak or Irish oak, is more common in upland areas, carries stalkless acorns and lacks the lobes at the bottom of the leaf stalks.
