Quercus infectoria

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Quercus infectoria
Quercus boissieri galls 2.JPG

Quercus infectoria

Systematics
Rosids
Eurosiden I
Order : Beech-like (Fagales)
Family : Beech family (Fagaceae)
Genre : Oak trees ( Quercus )
Type : Quercus infectoria
Scientific name
Quercus infectoria
G.Olivier

Quercus infectoria , in German seldom referred to as Aleppo oak or Färber's oak, is a species of oak that is widespread in the eastern Mediterranean and neighboring western Asia. The gall apples , plant galls on the leaves of this type of oak, are used medicinally, in the past they were also used to make iron gall ink .

description

Quercus infectoria is a semi- evergreen small tree with a crooked, twisted trunk, or a shrub, with a maximum height of about five meters. The bark is gray in color and cracked to scaly. Young shoots are yellow to red-brown and tomentose, later balding. The stiff leaves reach four to six centimeters in length. They are dull on the top, not shiny, serrated on the edge, partially weakly lobed, hairy on the underside, balding with age. The leaf shape is extremely variable, with specimens from Lebanon the leaf is relatively wide towards the tip. The leaves are semi-evergreen, i.e. H. Remaining on the plant through winter, but are thrown off when the young leaves emerge in spring. The length of the petiole is variable and different between the subspecies. The relatively small acorns sit individually or in small groups, they have a very short stalk, the fruit cup (cupula) with attached (not protruding) scales.

The oak species is morphologically variable and very similar to other species common in the region, with which it can also often form hybrids . A reliable determination based on individual features is therefore difficult. The leaf shape is similar to Quercus ithaburensis and Quercus macranthera , the acorns are similar to those of Quercus kotschyana and Quercus cedrorum . In the combination of the characteristics, however, a confident address is usually possible. Quercus pubescens is very similar and sometimes not clearly distinguishable in individual specimens . Microscopic examination reveals peculiarities of the anatomy of the leaf blade and the petiole. The morphologically very similar Quercus faginea has leaves that are weakly shiny on the upper side and mostly hairy underneath. This western Mediterranean species also occurs in a completely separate area.

Subspecies

A distinction is usually made between two subspecies, one of which is a variety whose morphological distinction is not always easy:

  • Quercus infectoria subsp. infectoria : It occurs in Greece and northern Turkey.
  • Quercus infectoria subsp. veneris (A. Kern.) H. Lindb. A frequently used synonymous name for this subspecies is Quercus infectoria subsp. boissieri (Reut.) O.Schwarz (same as Quercus boissieri Reut. ). The use of this name is controversial. The name Quercus boissieri , in species rank, would have priority over Quercus veneris A. Kern. (First described in 1853 or 1904), but in the subspecies the subsp. veneris first described. Some authors still consider this to be the valid name of the subspecies. The synonymy is rarely even disputed and it is assumed that there are two separate clans. This subspecies occurs from the eastern Mediterranean area to Iran.
    • Quercus infectoria olive. subsp. boissieri (Reut.) O.Schwarz var. tenuicarpa (Djav.-Khoie) Jamzad et Panahi: The variety first described in 2012 occurs in Iran.

Spreading, vegetation

The species occurs from the Aegean Sea in the west via Anatolia , Iraq to Iran in the east. In the south it reaches Lebanon and the north of Israel via Syria. Occurrences are given from the Aegean islands and the island of Cyprus. The species occurs from sea level up to about 2000 meters in the mountains, it is not frost hardy. The species is quite drought tolerant, it occurs in regions with around 400 mm of annual precipitation.

Quercus infectoria subsp. veneris forms mostly grazed, semi-open bush forests in south-east Anatolia in Turkey together with the English oak Quercus robur (in the subspecies pedunculiflora ). Further to the west, under a sub-Mediterranean climate, the species becomes rarer, it is mixed with stocks of the evergreen Kermes oak Quercus coccifera . In the Mediterranean climate zone, the oak species Quercus infectoria subsp. infectoria and the turkey oak Quercus cerris in the shelter of forests of the Calabrian pine Pinus brutia . In Cyprus, Quercus infectoria subsp. veneris one of three indigenous oak species. It occurs very rarely in the mountains in the north and west of the island. The eastern limit of the distribution of the species is the Zāgros Mountains in Iran. The deposits range from Sardasht in western Azerbaijan to Aleshtar in Lorestan .

According to the IUCN , Quercus infectoria is not endangered (status: least concern).

Phylogeny

The species belongs to the “white” oaks of the subgenus Quercus , section Quercus , a species-rich and taxonomically difficult aggregate of Eurasian (Palearctic) and American oak species. The togetherness of infectoria s. st. and boissieri was confirmed according to genetic data. A closely related species is the downy oak Quercus pubescens . The Palearctic, West Asian and European species of the complex form the clade of the “roburoid” oaks. The Mediterranean, drought-adapted species of the group used to be separated as the Galliferae subsection , but this group turned out to be non-monophyletic.

Gall apples

The species is known for the particularly frequent occurrence of galls on the underside of the leaves. The hard, cork-like gall apples are caused by gall wasps (especially the common oak gall wasp Cynips quercusfolii ). The gall apples are rich in tannins and are medically tested for antioxidants and for their antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. It is also reported to have a whitening effect on the skin. Dried and powdered gall apples from Quercus infectoria have been used ethnomedically for centuries to combat inflammation. The acorns are in principle edible, but only after prolonged watering because of their bitter taste. The specific epithet infectoria goes back to the frequent presence of the gall apples.

Individual evidence

  1. a b Otto Schwarz: Quercus L. In: TG Tutin, NA Burges, AO Chater, JR Edmonson, VH Heywood, DM Moore, DH Valentine, SM Walters, DA Webb (ed.): Flora europaea. 2nd Edition. Volume I, Cambridge University Press, 1993, ISBN 0-521-41007-X .
  2. Jean M. Stephan, Pamela W. Teeny, Federico Vessella, Bartolomeo Schirone (2018): Oak morphological traits: Between taxa and environmental variability. Flora 243: 32-44. doi: 10.1016 / j.flora.2018.04.001
  3. a b Jurij Leonardovich Menitsky: Oaks of Asia. University of Michigan Science Publishers, 2005. ISBN 978 1578082292 , at p. 102.
  4. Saleem Esmael Shahbaz, Shamiran Salih Abdulrahman, Haliz Arif Abdulrahman (2015): Use of leaf anatomy for identification of Quercus L. species native to Kurdistan-Iraq. Journal University of Zakho 3 (A) No.2: 222-232.
  5. a b c d Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Quercus infectoria. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved April 13, 2020.
  6. ^ Subspecies of Quercus infectoria , in Thomas Meyer, Michael Hassler: Mediterranean and Alpine flora. Photo key for determining the higher plants of the Mediterranean and Alpine regions.
  7. a b M. Mehrnia, T. Nejadsattari, M. Assadi, I. Mehregan (2012): Taxonomic study of the genus Quercus L. sect. Quercus in the Zagros forests of Iran. - Iranian Journal of Botany 19 (1): 62-74. doi: 10.22092 / year 2013.2996
  8. Michael Avishai (2017): Quercus look Kotschy: a Distinct Mt. Hermon Species. International Oaks 28: 73-82.
  9. Emin Uğurlu, Jan Roleček, Erwin Bergmeier (2012): Oak woodland vegetation of Turkey - a first overview based on multivariate statistics. Applied Vegetation Science 15: 590-608.
  10. ^ Sara Oldfield and Antonia Eastwood (2007): The Red List of Oaks. Published by Fauna & Flora International, Cambridge, UK. ISBN 9781 903703 25 0 .
  11. Andrew L. Hipp et al. (2019): Genomic landscape of the global oak phylogeny. New Phytologist (2019) doi: 10.1111 / nph.16162 .
  12. TK Lim: Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants: Volume 4, Fruits. Springer Verlag, Dordrecht etc., 2012. ISBN 978 94 007 4053 2 , pp. 16-26.

Web links

Commons : Quercus infectoria  - collection of images, videos and audio files