Pedunculate oak

About

The Pedunculate oak is one of the largest and longest-living deciduous trees in Europe. It grows up to 30–40 m and lives for several centuries, with some trees exceeding a thousand years. The crown is wide and spreading, and the bark of old trees is thick, dark, and deeply fissured.

The leaves are elongated, with rounded lobes, having small "ears" at the base and sitting on very short petioles. Acorns, on the other hand, hang one to three on a long stalk. This is why the species is also called pedunculate. The oak flowers in May, simultaneously with the unfolding of the leaves, and the acorns ripen in September to October.

In the Carpathians, the Pedunculate oak is a tree of the foothills. It grows in Prykarpattia, the Transcarpathian lowland, and in the lower part of the slopes, approximately up to 500–600 m above sea level, in mixed forests with hornbeam, linden, and maples. Above it, beech takes over. On the warm southern slopes of Transcarpathia, the sessile oak also grows: it has leaves on a long petiole, and the acorns sit on the branch almost without a stalk.

The oak feeds and shelters hundreds of species. Wild boars, deer, wolves, and jays eat the acorns. The jay buries them in the ground for later and forgets some — this is how the oak spreads. Old hollow trees are home to owls and bats, and larvae of the stag beetle develop in the decayed wood.

Old oaks in the villages and parks of the Carpathian region often have the status of botanical monuments of nature.

Where in the Carpathians

Teal — the species' natural range within its elevation belt; orange — where naturalists recorded it (GBIF, CC0/CC BY).

Range: Caudullo, Welk & San-Miguel-Ayanz 2017, CC BY 4.0; elevation belt and the countries where it is known — our model (AWS Terrain Tiles)

Countries

Ukraine · Slovakia · Czechia · Poland · Romania · Hungary · Austria · Serbia

Mountain ranges

nearly all Carpathian ranges, within its elevation belt

Altitude belts

Foothills (below 600 m)

When to see it

From naturalists’ observations in the Carpathians (iNaturalist, research grade): the darker the cell, the more often the species is seen that month.

Protection and rules

Not listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. Some ancient trees are protected as nature monuments.

FAQ