Different Types of Oak Tree in Scottish Oakwoods
29th March 2025
Whilst I am usually more interested in the beauty of nature and the trees around me than I am in tree or plant identification, sometimes particular trees or species of trees attract my attention. Having lived on the edge of an Ancient Oakwood - The Ariundle Oakwood - and providing guided Forest Bathing and Nature-Connection activities in and around this Oakwood and other nearby fragments of the Atlantic Oakwoods, I am quite interested in Oak Trees.
There are two native types of Oak Tree in the UK - The Pedunculate (or Common or English) Oak (Quercus robur) and the Sessile (or Cornish or Irish) Oak (Quercus petraea). Both trees grow to between 20 and 40 metres in height although the Pedunculate Oak tends to be broader. The bark of the Oak has vertical ridges with continuous grooves that channels rainwater to the ground.
They will be beginning to bud around now, although the leaves of the Pedunculate Oak usually appear a few weeks earlier than those of Sessile Oak, but the differences in their leaves is one of two easy ways to identify which species of Oak a tree is. NOTE that young saplings or trees that are less than about 4m in height can still have predominantly juvenile foliage which cannot be reliably identified by this method.
The Differences Between Sessile and Pedunculate Oak
Oak Tree Leaf Identification
An English or 'Pedunculate' Oak Leaf
Pedunculate Oak leaves have a quite short stalk and more pronounced ‘earlobes’ at the bottom of the leaf.
A Pedunculate Acorn
A Sessile Oak Leaf
Sessile Oak leaves have a longer stalk and lack the ‘earlobes’ at the bottom of the leaf next to the stalk.
Sessile Oak Acorns
When it comes to the acorns, the stalk lengths are reversed, with Pedunculate Oak tree bearing acorns on long stalks (or peduncles - hence the name!), whilst the Sessile Oak has clusters of acorns on short stalks attached directly to the outer twigs.
The Ariundle Oakwoods contain both Sessile Oaks and Pedunculate Oaks and hybrids of the two. The Pedunculate Oak is more tolerant of extremes of climate. It grows in valleys, near to rivers, and on damp, moist land that is not too acidic. Its ability to root in to heavier soils is ecologically valuable for its structure-improving and drainage effects. The Sessile Oak will grow in more acidic poorer, and more sandy soils but is much less tolerant to flooding than the Pedunculate Oak is, but the Sessile Oak will grow at higher altitudes.
According to the Woodland Trust, Oak trees support more wildlife than any other nature tree - animals such as squirrels and badgers love their acorns and caterpillars like to to eat their leaves, and in fact 326 species of wildlife are found only on Oak trees. The bark of Oak trees also provides a habitat for mosses, lichens and liverworts, and the bark of the Sessile oak used to be used by the tanning industry in the production of leather.
An Oak can live for 500 to 1000 years and during it’s primary growing period it can absorb over 900 kg of CO2. Importantly, research has shown that mature Oak trees should be able to increase their rate of photosynthesis by up to a third in response to the 30% increased in CO2 levels expected to be the world average over the next 30 years.
Interesting Oak Tree Fact!
Oak trees can produce around 10,000 acorns in a single year, but they don’t do this every year. In fact they may only do this every 5 years or so, and most years they will produce substantially less acorns. The years when they produce an abundant crop of acorns are called ‘Mast Years’ and interestingly this will be co-ordinated across all the Oak trees in a vast area, rather than one or two trees in a whole oakwood.
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