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Description:
English oak is a majestic tree with a very wide spreading crown, a short sturdy trunk, and deeply fissured gray brown bark. It is a magnificent tree, with a broad, irregular crown. The bark is grey and fissured, and develops burrs as it ages. The massive main branches often develop low on the trunk and become twisted and gnarled with age. English oak is tolerant of acidic to alkaline soils. In ideal sites it will grow up to 1000mm per year, and will become a grand tree within two decades. On compacted sites, English Oak will grow more slowly, only a foot (0.3 m) or so a year in youth but will still develop into a majestic, strong-wooded that can live more than 700 years. The autumn foliage colour is not exceptional, and frequently is a rich, dark brown. As the foliage is small, fallen leaves are not particularly difficult to eliminate and will not clog drains. The acorns form a valuable food resource for several small mammals and some birds, notably Eurasian Jays (Garrulus glandarius). Jays were overwhelmingly the primary propagators of oaks before humans began planting them commercially, because of their habit of taking acorns from the umbra of its parent tree and burying it undamaged elsewhere. Mammals, notably squirrels who tend to hoard acorns and other nuts most often leave them too abused to grow in the action of moving or storing them. Q. robur supports the highest biodiversity of insect herbivores of any British plant (>400 spp). Oak wood is extremely dense, strong and durable and has thus found much use in building and construction.