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46-641: The Parâng Mountains are located in the south-western part of the Central-Meridional Carpathians . They are the tallest mountains from the local Parâng-Cindrel mountain group and the second largest mountains in the Romanian Carpathians after the Făgăraș Mountains . They are situated between the Șureanu Mountains (north), Latoriței Mountains (north-east), Căpățânii Mountains (east), Vâlcan Mountains (west) and

92-692: A circumference of 10.86 m (35.6 ft) (in 2018) and the Kaive Oak in Latvia with a circumference of 10.2 m (33 ft) are among the thickest trees in Northern Europe . The largest historical oak was known as the Imperial Oak from Bosnia and Herzegovina. This specimen was recorded at 17.5 m in circumference at breast height and estimated at over 150 m³ in total volume. It collapsed in 1998. Two individuals of notable longevity are

138-771: A circumference of 4 m (13 ft) and more is in Latvia. In Ireland, at Birr Castle , a specimen over 400 years old has a girth of 6.5 m (21 ft), known as the Carroll Oak. In the Basque Country (Spain and France), the ' tree of Gernika ' is an ancient oak tree located in Gernika , under which the Lehendakari (Basque prime minister) swears his oath of office. The largest example in Australia

184-486: A fallen oak. In Germany, the oak tree can be found in several paintings of Caspar David Friedrich and in "Of the life of a Good-For-Nothing" written by Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff as a symbol of the state protecting every citizen. In Serbia the oak is a national symbol, having been part of the historical coat of arms of the Socialist Republic of Serbia , the historical coat of arms and flags of

230-527: A few simple hairs on the lower surface. They are dark green above, paler below, and are often covered in small disks of spangle gall by autumn. Flowering takes place in spring (early May in England). It is wind-pollinated. The male flowers occur in narrow catkins some 2–4 cm ( 3 ⁄ 4 – 1 + 1 ⁄ 2  in) long and arranged in small bunches; the female flowers are small, brown with dark red stigmas, about 2 mm in diameter and are found at

276-794: A group of mountain ranges located in southern Romania . They cover the part of the Carpathian Mountains located between the Prahova River in the east and the Timiș and Cerna Rivers in the west. To the south they are bounded by the Balkan Mountains in eastern Serbia. The Southern Carpathians are the second highest group of mountains in the Carpathian Mountain range (after Tatra ), reaching heights of over 2,500 meters. Although considerably smaller than

322-725: A metamorphic basement and a sedimentary cover, while the Severin Nappe includes only a sedimentary sequence. The Getic Nappe and the Danubian Units sediments include a Palaeozoic sequence (Upper Carboniferous, Lower Permian) and a Mesozoic sequence (Lowermost Jurassic – Middle Cretaceous). The Supragetic Nappe comprises mainly metamorphosed rocks (gneisses, micashists), while the Severin Nappe includes only Upper Jurassic – Lower Cretaceous sediments. From east to west, four mountain groups can be identified, separated by different river valleys. The first two groups are steepest on

368-404: A valuable food resource for several small mammals and some birds, notably Eurasian jays Garrulus glandarius . Jays were overwhelmingly the primary propagators of oaks before humans began planting them commercially (and remain the principal propagators for wild oaks), because of their habit of taking acorns from the umbra of its parent tree and burying them undamaged elsewhere. Quercus robur

414-453: Is called "chêne pédonculé". The genome of Q. robur has been completely sequenced (GenOak project); the first version was published in 2016. It comprises 12 chromosome pairs (2n = 24), about 26,000 genes and 750 million bp . There are many synonyms, and numerous varieties and subspecies have been named. The populations in Iberia, Italy, southeast Europe, and Asia Minor and

460-550: Is characteristic also to the Parâng mountains. Among mammals , the grey wolf , fox , wild boar , brown bear , eurasian lynx and red deer can be found. Southern Carpathians The Southern Carpathians (also known as the Transylvanian Alps ; Romanian : Carpații Meridionali [ k a r ˈ p a ts ij   ˌ m e r i d i . o ˈ n a lʲ ] ; Hungarian : Déli-Kárpátok ) are

506-460: Is most likely to be confused with sessile oak , which shares much of its range. Distinguishing features of Q. robur include the auricles at the leaf base, the very short petiole, its clusters of acorns being borne on a long peduncle, and the lack of stellate hairs on the underside of the leaf. The two often hybridise in the wild, forming Quercus × rosacea . Turkey oak is also sometimes confused with it, but that species has "whiskers" on

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552-560: Is planted for forestry , and produces a long-lasting and durable heartwood , much in demand for interior and furniture work. The wood of Q. robur is identified by a close examination of a cross-section perpendicular to fibres. The wood is characterised by its distinct (often wide) dark and light brown growth rings. The earlywood displays a vast number of large vessels (around 0.5 mm or 1 ⁄ 64 inch in diameter). There are rays of thin (about 0.1 mm or 1 ⁄ 256  in) yellow or light brown lines running across

598-565: Is rare on thin, well-drained calcareous (chalk and limestone) soil. Sometimes it is found on the margins of swamps, rivers and ponds, showing that it is fairly tolerant of intermittent flooding. Its Ellenberg values in Britain are L = 7, F = 5, R = 5, N = 4, and S = 0. Within its native range, Q. robur is valued for its importance to insects and other wildlife, supporting the highest biodiversity of insect herbivores of any British plant (at least 400 species). The most well-known of these are

644-443: Is spreading and unevenly domed, and trees often have massive lower branches. The bark is greyish-brown and closely grooved, with vertical plates. There are often large burrs on the trunk, which typically produce many small shoots. Oaks do not produce suckers but do recover well from pruning or lightning damage. The twigs are hairless and the buds are rounded (ovoid), brownish and pointed. The leaves are arranged alternately along

690-719: The Alps , they are classified as having an alpine landscape. Their high mountain character, combined with great accessibility, makes them popular with tourists and scientists. The highest peaks are: Despite the heights, some of the most accessible passages in the Carpathians in Romania are along the rivers, which cross the mountain range (the Olt River ) or form wide valleys (along the Prahova River Valley or along

736-775: The European beech . The second layer mostly extended on the northern and western slopes, between 1000m and 1750m, and is composed of norway spruce forests and, locally, european silver fir . In the Parâng mountains, the tree line is situated between 1600m and 1800m. Above this limit are located the subalpine and Alpine grasslands . The vegetation here is made up of krummholz trees, such as swiss pine , european larch , mountain pine and net-leaved willow , but also mountain cranberry , green alder and bilberry . Also common are grass family members, such as bentgrass , tufted fescue and highland rush . On limestone rich areas, edelweiss can be found. The southern Charpatians fauna

782-600: The Jiu River Valley). The South Carpathians represent an intricate pile of tectonic nappes, overthrusted from west eastwards during the Austrian (Middle Cretaceous) and Laramian paroxysmal phases, corresponding to various plate fragments. The napes are (from west eastwards): the Supragetic, Getic, Severin and Danubian Units. The Getic Nappe was identified by Murgoci (1905), while the general understanding over

828-794: The Milky Way . The oak tree also had a symbolic value in France. Some oaks were considered sacred by the Gauls ; druids would cut down the mistletoe growing on them . Even after Christianization , oak trees were considered to protect as lightning would strike them rather than on nearby inhabitation. Such struck trees would often be turned into places of worship, like the Chêne chapelle . In 1746, all oak trees in Finland were legally classified as royal property, and oaks had enjoyed legal protection already from

874-765: The Petroșani Depression in the north-west. Located south and east of the city of Petroșani , the Parâng Mountains form the eastern barrier of the Jiu Valley (a plateau 100 kilometers long from east to west and 70-80 kilometers wide from north to south). The Parâng Mountains consist predominantly of crystalline rocks, peripherally covered with patches of sediments from the Paleozoic , Mesozoic (massive limestone , conglomerates ) and Cenozoic eras, mixed with large areas of granite outcrops . On

920-591: The Principality of Serbia , as well as the current traditional coat of arms and flag of Vojvodina . In England, the oak has assumed the status of a national emblem. This has its origins in the oak tree at Boscobel House , where the future King Charles II hid from his Parliamentarian pursuers in 1650 during the English Civil War ; the tree has since been known as the Royal Oak . This event

966-701: The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , who found that there were 115 oaks (of both species) in England with a circumference of 9 m or more, compared with just 96 in Europe. This is attributed to the persistence of mediaeval deer parks in the landscape. The Majesty Oak, with a circumference of 12.2 m (40 ft), is the thickest such tree in Great Britain . The Brureika ( Bridal Oak ) in Norway with

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1012-798: The Stelmužė Oak in Lithuania and the Granit Oak in Bulgaria , which are believed to be more than 1500 years old, possibly making them the oldest oaks in Europe; another specimen, called the ' Kongeegen ' ('Kings Oak'), estimated to be about 1,200 years old, grows in Jaegerspris , Denmark . Yet another can be found in Kvilleken , Sweden , that is over 1000 years old and 14 m (46 ft) around. Of maiden (not pollarded) specimens, one of

1058-584: The 17th century. The oak is also the regional tree of the Southwest Finland region. During the French Revolution , oaks were often planted as trees of freedom . One such tree, planted during the 1848 Revolution , survived the destruction of Oradour-sur-Glane by the Nazis . After the announcement of General Charles de Gaulle 's death, caricaturist Jacques Faizant represented him as

1104-609: The Alpine structure of the South Carpathians was later refined by Codarcea (1940), Codarcea et al. (1961), Năstăseanu et al. (1981), Săndulescu (1984), Săndulescu and Dimitrescu (2004), and Mutihac (1990). The first to apply the global tectonics concepts for the Romanian Carpathians were Rădulescu and Săndulescu (1973). The Supragetic, Getic Nappes as well as the Danubian Units represent units with both

1150-490: The Caucasus are sometimes treated as separate species, Q. orocantabrica, Q. brutia Tenore, Q. pedunculiflora K. Koch and Q. haas Kotschy respectively. Quercus × rosacea Bechst. ( Q. petraea x Q. robur ) is the only naturally-occurring hybrid, but the following crosses with other white oak species have been produced in cultivation: There are numerous cultivars available, among which

1196-470: The Croatian 5 lipa coin; on old German Deutsche Mark currency (1 through 10 Pfennigs; the 50 Pfennigs coin showed a woman planting an oak seedling), and now on German-issued euro currency coins (1 through 5 cents); and on British pound coins (1987 and 1992 issues). It is often claimed that England has more ancient oaks than the rest of Europe combined. This is based on research by Aljos Farjon at

1242-504: The North side, and the last two are steepest on the South side. Quercus robur Quercus robur , the pedunculate oak or English oak , is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae . It is a large tree, native to most of Europe and western Asia , and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It grows on soils of near neutral acidity in

1288-560: The age of the tree, with blue tits and great tits timing their egg hatching to the leaves opening. The most common caterpillar species include the winter moth , the green tortrix and the mottled umber , all of which can become extremely abundant on the first flush of leaves in May, but the oak trees do recover their foliage later in the year. The acorns are typically produced in large quantities every other year (unlike Q. petraea , which produces large crops only every 4-10 years) and form

1334-404: The altitude of 1500m. The first snow comes during the first half of October, while the last one during the first half of May (above 1500m) or late April at lower altitudes. At high altitudes the snow is present on average for 200 days each year. The thickness of the snow layer depends on the weather conditions, the exposure of the slopes to the winds, exposure to the sun, snowfall etc. At over 1500m,

1380-455: The asymmetry of the main ridge, with the steep side to the north, leads to the receiving of different amounts of heat and moisture , more on the southern side. The sun shines approximately 1800–2000 hours/year, the highest temperatures being recorded in July and August. The average annual temperature is 6 °C at the bottom of the mountain and 0 °C at altitudes around 1800m. Above 2000m,

1426-463: The average temperature is below 0 °C. The difference between the recorded average temperatures of the southern and northern slopes is around 1-2 °C. The average annual rainfall is between 900 and 1200mm. The most abundant rainfall is recorded around the altitude of 1600m to 1800m. June is the month with the highest precipitations , 110mm at the bottom of the mountain and 160mm at altitudes over 1500m. It snows on average 90 days per year above

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1472-408: The average thickness is greater than 1m. The wind intensity is high all around the year. Above 2000m, the westers winds are dominant, while below this threshold, the wind direction and intensity are influenced by the mountain relief . Above 2000m, the average wind speed is 8–10 m/s. During the cold season, the wind speed may reach 15 m/s and above on some ridges. In close connection with

1518-419: The following are commonly grown: The species is native to most of Europe and western Asia , and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It is a long-lived tree of high-canopy woodland, coppice and wood pasture, and it is commonly planted in hedges. When compared to sessile oak, it is more abundant in the lowlands of the south and east of Britain, and it occurs on more neutral (less acid) soils. It

1564-510: The growth rings. The timber is around 720 kilograms (1,590 pounds) per cubic meter in density. In the Scandinavian countries, oaks were considered the " thunderstorm trees", representing Thor , the god of thunder. A Finnish myth is that the World tree , a great oak which grew to block the movement of the sky, sunlight and moonlight, had to be felled, releasing its magic, thus creating

1610-597: The lowlands and is notable for its value to natural ecosystems, supporting a very wide diversity of herbivorous insects and other pests, predators and pathogens. Quercus robur is a deciduous tree up to 40 metres (130 ft) tall, with a single stout trunk that can be as much as 11 m (36 ft) in girth (circumference at breast height) or even 14 m (46 ft) in pollarded specimens. Older trees tend to be pollarded, with boles (the main trunk) 2–3 m ( 6 + 1 ⁄ 2 –10 ft) long. These live longer and become more stout than unpollarded trees. The crown

1656-711: The name of eight major Royal Navy warships. The naval associations are strengthened by the fact that oak was the main construction material for sailing warships. The Royal Navy was often described as "The Wooden Walls of Old England" (a paraphrase of the Delphic Oracle ) and the Navy's official quick march is " Heart of Oak ". In folklore, the Major Oak is where Robin Hood is purported to have taken shelter. Oak leaves (not necessarily of this species) have been depicted on

1702-444: The northern front more steepen, with short ridges, while the southern facade is less inclined and with longer ridge. Especially in the southern part, the slopes are composed of several steps. The general layout of the main ridge on a west–east axis and its altitudes of over 2000m makes the Parâng mountains an orographic dam in the way of the air masses that flow on the north to north-west and south to south-west directions. Also,

1748-633: The oldest is the great oak of Ivenack , Germany . Tree-ring research of this tree and other oaks nearby gives an estimated age of 700 to 800 years. Also the Bowthorpe Oak in Lincolnshire , England is estimated to be 1,000 years old, making it the oldest in the UK, although there is Knightwood Oak in the New Forest that is also said to be as old. The highest density of Q. robur with

1794-462: The ones that form galls, which number about 35. In Britain, the knopper gall is very common, and Andricus grossulariae produces somewhat similar spiky galls on the acorn cups. Also common in Britain are two types of spherical galls on the twigs: the oak marble gall and the cola nut gall . The latter are smaller and rougher than the former. A single, large exit hole indicates that the wasp inside has escaped, whereas several smaller holes show that it

1840-401: The relief characteristics of the Parâng mountains, the vegetation is clearly shaped into three layers. The first layer is the broadleaf forest , which starts from the bottom of the mountains and goes as high as 1200m (northern slope) and 1400m (southern slope). They are made up of pedunculate oak , European hornbeam , silver birch and, the most common, but mostly spread on the southern slope,

1886-605: The southern slope, sedimentary rocks from the Mesozoic era can be found, more exactly massive limestone from the Jurassic period. The newest rocks are found on the southern frame of the mountains and in the north-west, where it is bordered by the Petrosani Depression. The nature of the rocks favored the emergence of bulk, rounded ridges , separated by deep valleys . The mountains present an overall asymmetry, with

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1932-812: The tips of new shoots on peduncles 2–5 cm long. The fruits (acorns) are borne in clusters of 2–3 on a long peduncle (stalk) 4–8 cm long. Each acorn is 1.5–4 cm long, ovoid with a pointed tip, starting whitish-green and becoming brown, then black. As with all oaks, the acorns are carried in a shallow cup which can be distinctive in identifying the species. It is an "alternate bearing" species, its large crops produced every other year. Grandinin / roburin E , castalagin / vescalagin , gallic acid , monogalloyl glucose ( glucogallin ) and valoneic acid dilactone , monogalloyl glucose, digalloyl glucose , trigalloyl glucose , rhamnose , quercitrin and ellagic acid are phenolic compounds found in Q. robur . The heartwood contains triterpene saponins . Q. robur

1978-419: The twigs and are broadly oblong or ovate, 10–12 centimetres (4– 4 + 1 ⁄ 2  in) long by 7–8 cm ( 2 + 3 ⁄ 4 – 3 + 1 ⁄ 4  in) wide, with a short (typically 2–3 millimetres or 1 ⁄ 16 – 1 ⁄ 8 inch) petiole . They have a cordate (auricled) base and 3–6 rounded lobes, divided no further than halfway to the midrib. The leaves are usually glabrous or have just

2024-631: The winter buds and deeper lobes on the leaves (often more than halfway to the midrib). The acorn cups are also very different. Quercus robur (from the Latin quercus , "oak" + robur derived from a word meaning robust, strong) was named by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum (1753). It is the type species of the genus and classified in the white oak section ( Quercus section Quercus ). It has numerous common names, including "common oak", "European oak" and "English oak". In French it

2070-459: Was celebrated nationally on 29 May as Oak Apple Day , which continues to this day in some communities. Many place names in England include a reference to this tree, including Oakley, Occold and Eyke. Copdock, in Suffolk , probably derives from a pollarded oak ("copped oak"). 'The Royal Oak' is the third most popular pub name in Britain (with 541 counted in 2007) and HMS Royal Oak has been

2116-447: Was parasitised by another insect, and these emerged instead. The undersides of oak leaves are often covered in spangle galls , which persist after the leaves fall. One of the most distinctive galls is the oak apple , a 4.5 cm diameter spongy ball created from the buds by the wasp Biorhiza pallida . The pineapple gall , while less common, is also easily recognised. The quantity of caterpillar species on an oak tree increases with

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