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| Acorns of Turkey Oak, Quercus serris. High Elms Country Park, 20 September 2011. |
The Turkey Oak is not native to Britain, but is widespread, possibly introduced because it gorws fast and looks decorative. It is required for the sexual generation of a gall wasp, Andricus quercuscalicis, that causes knopper galls on our native oaks in its alternating parthenogenetic generation. So knopper galls are now quite common, though their frequency varies a lot and this year they are quite rare in this locality. I expect to post some photos of plant galls later on.
Turkey oaks are distinguished by their leaf shape, bristly bud tips, and those tentacle-like protrusions on the cups of the acorns, sometimes described as "mossy."
Even though this is a good year for nuts and berries, I could only see these two acorns on this tree.
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