Chestnut-leaved Oak??

davidbr · #1 (**permalink**) 14-03-2009, 08:49 PM

Supposedly, this sapling is Quercus castaneifolia, Chestnut-leaved Oak, self-sown in the wooded fringe of the Avon Gorge in what would be one of very few UK sites for this introduction. Trouble is, I'm far from convinced

I've checked images online over and over again, and I'm not sure I could confidently rule out this being just another Holm Oak, Quercus ilex. Even in Alien Flora of the British Isles, although the Gorge is listed as a site for Q. castaneifolia, it's mentioned that some regard it as "an error for Q. ilex[/i]

What do people think - a rarity, or just another common introduction?

KeenTeen17 · #2 (**permalink**) 14-03-2009, 08:54 PM

I don't think its the chestnut leaf oak because your photo shows distinct sharp spikes on the ends of the leaf edges, whereas from what I have seen the leaves of Chestnut Leaf Oak don't have this spike.

http://www.dkimages.com/discover/pre...6/85009011.JPG

davidbr · #3 (**permalink**) 16-03-2009, 10:54 AM

I must have looked at dozens of pictures online, KT, and I still can't make up my mind

As I said the site's listed in Alien Flora of the British Isles as the only one in Britain for Chestnut-leaved Oak; pretty much as I found them, a couple of saplings in scrub at the top of a gulley. And, to be fair, they were different enough to make me stop and notice them - but I know how variable young Holm Oak trees can be, and I'm really not convinced that isn't what these ones are.

It'd be a strange record if it was correct; there's a botanic garden in the University of Bristol but they don't grow Q. castaneifolia, so the nearest planted specimen would probably be Westonbirt Arboretum, about fifty miles away. That's a long way for a bird to carry an acorn