A tree from the eastern USA. It has a smooth, silvery bark and its leaves have pointed lobes. It has large ‘cut’ leaves and brilliant autumn colours of reddish orange. It is grown commercially as a timber crop due to its fast growth.
Oak biodiversity
All oaks support a lot of other species (birds, bats, insects, fungi, bryophytes, and lichens). The introduction of the Turkey oak is believed to have brought a small wasp that lays its eggs in the leaf buds. Chemicals from the larvae cause the leaf to grow a small round ‘gall’ around the larvae that are generally known as ‘oak apples’. There are several types of gall wasp and the ‘apple’ varies in shape with the species. Other insects prey on the gall wasps – an intricate food web!
