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Quercus acutissima
Also called Saw-tooth Oak, Sawthorn Oak, Bristle Oak, Chinese Oak
Quercus acutissima, the sawtooth oak, is an Asian species of oak native to China (north-central, south-central, and Manchuria), Korea, Japan, Indochina (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam), the Himalayas (Nepal, Bhutan, and Northeast India), and according to Flora of China, southeastern Tibet. It is widely planted in many lands and has become naturalized in parts of North America.
Quercus acutissima is closely related to the Turkey oak, classified with it in Quercus sect. Cerris, a section of the genus characterized by shoot buds surrounded by soft bristles, bristle-tipped leaf lobes, and acorns that mature in about 18 months.
The acorns are very bitter, but are eaten by jays and pigeons; squirrels usually only eat them when other food sources have run out. The sap of the tree can leak out of the trunk. Beetles, stag beetles, butterflies, and Vespa mandarinia gather to reach this sap.
Sawtooth oak is widely planted in eastern North America and is naturalized in scattered locations; it is also occasionally planted in Europe but has not naturalized there. Most planting in North America was carried out for wildlife food provision, as the species tends to bear heavier crops of acorns than other native American oak species; however, the bitterness of the acorns makes it less suitable for this purpose, and sawtooth oak is becoming a problematic invasive species in some areas and states, such as Louisiana. Sawtooth oak trees also grow at a faster rate which helps it compete against native trees. The wood has many of the characteristics of other oaks, but is very prone to crack and split and hence is relegated to such uses as fencing.
Quercus acatenangensis · Mapleleaf oak · Quercus acherdophylla · Quercus acrodonta · Quercus aculcingensis · Red Wood Evergreen Oak · Quercus acutangula · Quercus acutifolia · Quercus aerea · African Oak · Quercus affinis · Coast Live Oak
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Quercus acutissima by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
