Quercus variabilis

Chinese Cork Oak
Chinese Cork Oak planted at Tortworth Court, England
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Fagales
Family:	Fagaceae
Genus:	Quercus
Section:	Cerris
Species:	Q. variabilis
Binomial name
Quercus variabilis Bl.

Quercus variabilis (Chinese Cork Oak) is a species of oak in the section Quercus sect. Cerris, native to a wide area of eastern Asia in China, Japan, and Korea.

Description

It is a medium-sized to large deciduous tree growing to 25-30 m tall with a rather open crown, and thick corky bark with deep fissures and marked by sinuous ridges. The leaves are simple, acuminate, variable in size, 8-20 cm long and 2-8 cm broad, with a serrated margin with each vein ending in a distinctive fine hair-like tooth; they are green above and silvery below with dense short pubescence.

The flowers are wind-pollinated catkins produced in mid spring, maturing about 18 months after pollination; the fruit is a globose acorn, 1.5-2 cm diameter, two-thirds enclosed in the acorn cup, which is densely covered in soft 4-8 mm long 'mossy' bristles.

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  Foliage and flowers

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  Trunk and bark of Chinese cork oak

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  Chinese Cork Oak planted at Meise, Belgium

Distribution and habitat

Evergreen and deciduous forests; below 3000 m. Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang Japan, Korea.

Uses

It is cultivated in China to a small extent for cork production, though its yield is lower than that of the related cork oak. It is also occasionally grown as an ornamental tree.

References

• eFloras, Missouri Botanical Garden & Harvard University Herbaria (FOC Vol. 4 Page 372), Quercus variabilis, http://efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=200006306, retrieved 2009