Black leaved Oak ID

[Shadowjewel]

I have started growing trees in pots as something as a hobby recently (I need to figure out what I will do with them when they get too big for me, but I have a few ideas so that shouldn't be a problem). Some friends of mine have been helping me with this by setting aside occasional seedlings they find, this oak was one of them.

When they first potted it up the leaves were young so they assumed their red colour was down to their newness, but by the time I got to see it the leaves had matured and darked to an almost black through an unusual mix of red and green pigments. Which shows up best seems to depend on the light, shadowy for red, bright for green. I also suspect that the red might be slowly fading over time as it doesn't seem as vivid anymore, but it is still very dark, still almost black. The new growth I have observed recently started out as a bright emerald green bud that darkened to pink as it opened, then to bright red, and now is such a deep red that is bordering on burgundy, and darkening by the day it seems.

It is growing well and seems very healthy.

Can anyone help me identify this Oak? I have been looking for weeks and come up with nothing. It's gotten to the point that I am wondering if it is an exotic, a hybrid or a mutation.

This was taken about a month ago.



This is from a few days ago.


I posted the two images as the different light has shown the different colours in the leaves - they don't always look that green or that red all the time. Though, I will have to see weather the red will recede more over time in old leaves.

[Cotham Marble]

Perhaps Quercus robur 'Purpurea', afraid I know very little about it but is available through some specialist suppliers.

CM

[Shadowjewel]

Thanks for that - that's a lot closer then what I have managed to dig up so far. Not come across this one before, I am finding so few images for it that I am not sure if it is a match or not. lol, Google failed me!

Time to dig out the less well know search engines to see what they come up with...

[mrs fish]

There is only one supplier in the uk
Royal Horticultural Society - RHS Plant Finder

[aeshna5]

An attractive plant you have there!

[oceanroc]

Very interesting indeed!
There is nothing like it in any of my books so I have to agree with Cotham Marble. The leaf certainly looks like Quercus robur

I would be very interested to know where your friend got this acorn/young tree from??
If you didn't buy it as a Quercus robur 'purpurea' then it must have come about naturally and like you said must have been a mutation or natural hybrid! I would be interested to follow its progress and wonder if the reddish colour will fade more with age.Is it a freak of nature?!

[Marvin Africa]

There is a Purple English Oak Quercus robur atropurpurea that grows in the wild.

[Shadowjewel]

I live in the W midlands, around the Kidderminster area - this was found in my boyfriend's parent's back garden, (growing next to the vegetable patch I think) they were the ones helping me with digging out various tree seedlings that would otherwise have been destroyed. There are plenty of Common and English oaks in the area, but nothing more glamorous then that to my knowledge, unless there is a small tree in a neighbours back garden that I haven't been able to spot. Every other Oak seedling I have seen is pretty much the same as one another, just the usual greens, though about a third have the pink new leaves, while the others were just green all the time that I could see. This seedling was an early spouter, as it was spotted and dug up for me before the army of other oak seedlings made headway - they had a very good season last autumn, there are lodes of them now.

Looking at the pictures of Quercus robur Atropurpurea and Quercus robur Purpurea I’m not sure it is a true match - those are, as with the name, distinctly purple when the leaves are fairly young while this looks dark red. The shape of the leaves also seem more defined in Atropurpurea and Purpurea while the seedling has softer edges. This may be down to the fact that my seedling is so young, but looking at other young oaks in my collection, they have similar definition when they are new as when they are grown. I will need to see what these new leaves will look like when they are bigger, they have certainly grown a lot since I took that last picture, but they are not there yet. A few more days and I will have a better idea of what I am dealing with.

[Shadowjewel]

Just thought I'd post an update on the progress thus far. I doubt it will help much now, but it's worth a shot...

Plus, I think this is really pretty.

[aeshna5]

It will be interesting to see if this plant is a genuine sport that retains that colour leaf. Certain trees are well known for purple leaved cultivars such as Beech, Norway Maple + Cherry Plum (Pissard's Plum) + are widely grown in parks + as street trees.