Oaks of the World

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  Quercus x crenata
Author Lam. 1785 Lamarck & al., Encycl. 1(2): 723. 1785.
Synonyms cerris X suber

= cerris var. lucombeana Loud. 1838
= x lucombeana Holway 1772
= cerris var. fulhamensis 1838
= x fulhamensis Steud. 1841
 = x pseudocerris Lojac. 1907, not Boiss. 1853, nec Rouy 1910
= x turneri A.DC not Willd.
Local names Chêne de Lucombe;
Range
Growth habit 15 m; reaches sometimes to 30 m, with a trunk 2 m in diameter;
Leaves 4-7 cm X 3-4, sub-evergreen; oblong; apex pointed; base cuneate or truncate; margin with 5-9 irregular lobes each side, with sinuses deeper near the middle of the blade; adaxially shiny green when the silvery grey hairs have fallen; abaxially grey-gree pubescent; petiole 1 cm long, pubescent;
Flowers
Fruits acorn 2.5 cm long, brown, with apex slightly depressed; peduncle 1 cm long, thick, tomentose; cup enclosing 1/2 of fruit; cupscales slender, sinuous, 0.2-0.5 cm long, not appressed; maturing in 2 years;

Bark, twigs and
buds

bark variable : light grey, fissured or smooth, or in more or less corky plates; young twigs grey-brown, at first densely pubescent then glabrous; terminal buds with less scales than the lateral ones;
Hardiness zone, habitat hardy; all types of soils;
Miscellaneous

-- polymorphous species, depending on whether Q. cerris or Q. suber is dominating; which has led to the description of a lot of species, subspecies, varieties and formas;

 
Subspecies and
varieties

-- Q. x turneri A.DC (not Willd.) is a synonym of Q. x crenata, whereas the taxon named Q. x turneri Willd. is actually a cultivar (= Q. 'Turneri'), artificial hybrid between Q. ilex and Q. robur (see the description here); but for Govaerts and Frodin 1998, Q. x turneri A.DC has for synonym Q. x pseudoturneri C.K.Schneider while this name is generally considered as a synonym of Q. 'Turneri' !

-- Q. pseudocerris Boiss. 1853 is a synonym of Q. cerris, and Q. pseudocerris Rouy 1910 in a non-resolved name.

-- -- Q. crenata is strongly threatened with extinction : only ca. 1000 plants remains in Italy, where it is protected, and a few in France. Recent (2018) genetic studies indicate that this taxon may represent the remainder of the ancestral form from which Q. suber evolved, rather than a hybrid between Q. suber and Q. cerris.

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