Quercus cerris L., Turkey Oak
Account Summary
Introduced, neophyte, deliberately planted, very rare but possibly over-looked and somewhat under-recorded. European temperate, cultivated and naturalised in Europe.
14 June 1987; Northridge, R.H.; roadside at Garvary, near Teemore.
A distinctive tree, native of S Europe and SW Asia and which is usually evergreen or semi-evergreen in Fermanagh on account of our relatively mild oceanic climate. It is certainly under-recorded since in recent years source material has become much more widely available in garden centres in some parts of N Ireland, and it has again become quite a popular, fashionable tree to plant in gardens. The long-standing policy of ignoring garden escapes and deliberately planted exotic trees should come to an end, so that field botanists can begin to be aware of the local behaviour of such plants.
Fermanagh occurrence
There are only three records for Q. cerris in the Fermanagh Flora Database. The details of the other two are: old estate wood and derelict garden, Waterfoot, Lower Lough Erne, 17 August 1990, RHN & RSF; hedgerow, Cornamucklagh Td, NE of Brookeborough estate, 12 April 1996, RHN & RSF.
British and Irish occurrence
The New Atlas map shows that Turkey Oak is very rare and thinly represented in Ireland compared to Britain. There has been a dramatic increase in records in Britain since the 1962 BSBI Atlas, due to both a genuine increase and better recording of aliens. The fact that Q. cerris, at least in S England and Wales, regenerates freely and naturalises itself in a range of open habitats, represents a threat to native or semi-native communities in some sites there (T.D. Dines, in: Preston et al. 2002). In the far south of Ireland and northwards to around Dublin, there are a few scattered records of self-sown seedlings and saplings found near parent trees. However, few if any established trees arise from these seedlings in a naturalised setting (Cat Alien Pl Ir; Green 2008). There do not appear to be any genuinely naturalised trees in N Ireland.
European and world occurrence
Q. cerris is native of S and SC Europe from the SE coastal France through Italy and Sicily to Austria, Hungry, Alabania, Greece, Romania and the Black Sea coast. Beyond Europe it extends eastwards to Syria and throughout Asia Minor (Jalas & Suominen 1976, Map 294; Clapham et al. 1987; Tutin et al. 1993).
Threats
While RSF has seen parasitic Knopper wasp galls on Turkey Oaks in parks in the Belfast area, none have yet been noticed on Fermanagh oaks.