C. Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur)

The greenish-yellow catkins of this native oak appear in April. Oak wood is hard, tough, enduring, and stands salt water, and was the mainstay of house (krucks) and ship building for centuries, and also for mechanisms of water- and windmills. It is the preferred wood for gateposts, gates, railings, oak pale fencing, and cart-wheel spokes. Other uses include ladder rungs, barrel stave making, wooden spades, hacks (tools like mattocks), heavy mallets, and pegs for fitting wooden joints. Blacksmiths' anvils were embedded in inverted oak tree root stocks. Oak bark was essential in the tanning industry, and oak bark extract was once used for malaria, as a gargle for sore throats, and for diarrhoea and dysentery. If you are going to kill a vampire the stake must be made of oak. Oak bobbins on the ends of window blind cords were thought to protect the house from lightning strikes. An ink is made from oak gall. Oak sawdust is burned in the curing and smoking of fish and ham.

Acorns can be turned into flour and a coffee substitute. If boiled and ground then a flour is obtained, and if roasted and ground then acorn 'coffee' is the result. To make a drink of the latter, steep in boiling water for 15 minutes, filter and drink.

These trees support more life than any other native British tree. It is host to hundreds of species, providing an ample supply of food to birds. Grey Squirrels feed on their acorns. Leaf mould supports a myriad of invertebrates. Bats nest in the cracks of the tree's trunk. Stag beetles are supported by the tree's leaf mould.