Don't See Acorns - But Is this an Oak Tree?

[worried]

Hi everyone, just joined to see if you could please please help me. Please identify this tree. I have included some pics of the leaves and a pic of the tree. This is urgent, please help if you can! The leaves are fairly small. I did think of oak but no acorns are being produced on the tree and the leaves are quite small.









Thankyou so so so so so much if you can help!

[vintagejuls]

Where's the tree?

[The Helpful Gardener]

I think it's English oak (Quercus robur). Where are you at?

HG

[worried]

Oh no don't say that!!
Can it be oak though, the tree does not produce any acorns and I thought the leaves were bigger?
It is in a field. I am in the Midlands.

[The Helpful Gardener]

The pic of the tree would help, but glad I got the country right anyway . It may not be a mature tree yet, so no fruit set (but a pic would help).

What's the trouble with oak? Good mast food plant for wildlife over here... I see this little one a lot around Cape Cod; it reminds me a bit of your leaf...

http://www.oikostreecrops.com/store/product.asp?cookiecheck=yes&P_ID=416&PT_ID=69&strPageHistory=cat

Did I mention a pic of the tree?

HG

[worried]

I think it is a fairly old tree, but not quite sure. It is a long story, but really don't want it to be oak.

Here is the tree



Not a great pic I know

[The Helpful Gardener]

No the picture is not much help, but the silhouette certainly doesn't change my mind any...

Should you need a more definitive answer, as perhaps this is a health issue or something even more cryptic, then I would get a professional opinion from a local source, but my opinion still stands without better images. The only other possibility I could think of is an odd, rarely seen cultivar of Fagus sylvatica called 'Cristata', that has clumps of misshapen foliage, but those tend to be more pointed...

I think it's an oak...

HG

[valleytreeman]

an oak, and I would agree its an English Oak. It is of the white oak division of the genus and the very short leaf stalks (petioles) are the give away that it is robur.

Its a rather old specimen I belive... been there a lot of years. Could it be that it is a referenced tree in a land survey?.... that could be a cause for the unhappiness over it being an oak.

[MagnoliaMan]

Not sure that I would ID this as an Engilish oak. Might be, but, look at the other white oaks: Chestnut, swamp white, white, etc. All have similar leaves because the darn leaves are so variable and the trees tend to hybridize.
Magnoliaman

[kasimac]

I'd have to agree on the English Oak as well, we have on growing on our campus and the leaves are as small as your pictures, and the growth form is kind of scraggly. English oak has very large, long, heavy acorns so if you happen to find acorns, it will help you distinguish it.

I really doubt it's chestnut oak, those have a very distinctive leave shape, looks like a broad chestnut leaf, with pointed lobes rather then rounded, like most white oak species.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Mag man, you are missing the salient point; this gardener is in England...eliminates most of your list...


So VT, you're thinking that Worried just lost some land? That might explain the cryptic nature of this missive... What do you make of the lack of acorns? Sterility? Predation? Wishful thinking?

HG

[kasimac]

don't oak trees produce fruit for about 5 years at a time, then stop producing acorns for a year to bring down the squirrel, and other things that eat acorns, populations? So that the next year(s) there will be a greater survivability rate of the acorns produced.

I remember reading that somewhere.. that could be why there aren't any acorns.

[cynthia_h]

There was a brief discussion here at THG about oak trees in the East not producing the accustomed number of acorns:

http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... hp?t=11344

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[The Helpful Gardener]

Good point Cynthia. I had not thought about it on the other side of the pond, but just heard a bit on NPR about how we were short on acorns ourselves here in CT. Global shortage?

HG

[hendi_alex]

One interesting characteristic of oaks is that they cross with other oaks in an almost infinite kind of way. Each year I have hundreds of new volunteer seedlings, and almost every one is unique in its leaf form, as each represents a volunteer crosses between the various species in the area.