Oak (Quercus)

Identification

Large tree with distinctive lobed leaves. Also, commonly appears in hedgerows. Acorns caps may have long (Q. robur) or short stem (Q. petraea).

Botany

The fruit, acorns, appear in mast years, occurring every 3-10 years. Oaks will grow for more than a thousand years, and support hundreds of other species; several are completely dependent on the oak. These include the purple hairstreak butterfly and some gall wasps.

Part of the plant to use

Galls, acorn caps, bark

Lore

The oak king is that of summer, sunlight and growth. The oak is a tree of rebirth and the renewed cycle of life – experiencing a second growth of leaves in late summer. It is said oak enables us to focus on time and memory. It helps us manifest goals, perhaps thanks to its own longevity.

Colour

Ochre: unmodified

Reddish brown: cooked in soda

Greys and blacks: + iron II sulphate

Reddish-orange: + baking soda

White “stars”: + citric acid