Japanese evergreen oak is an East Asian evergreen oak with large, glossy, smooth-edged leaves—no lobes or teeth—and acorns that take two seasons to ripen. It grows wild in southern Japan, southern Korea, and a small part of southern China. It doesn't grow wild in the US, where it's an uncommon tree in gardens and arboretums.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Bark is smooth and gray on young trees, becoming scaly and flaking into gray and yellow-brown patches.
- Growth form
- Evergreen tree up to about 50–65 ft (15–20 m) in the wild, often smaller and shrubby in gardens; slow-growing.
- Leaves
- Leathery, glossy dark green, 3–8 in (8–20 cm) long and 1.2–2.4 in (3–6 cm) wide, with a long tapering tip and smooth edges. Leaf stalks are long for an oak, 0.8–1.6 in (2–4 cm); new leaves are fuzzy with brown hairs.
- Flowers
- Male and female flowers grow on the same tree: drooping yellow-brown , and small upright female flowers. Wind-pollinated.
- Fruit
- Egg-shaped acorns up to 0.8 in (2 cm), about half covered by a cup with 6–7 hairy rings. They ripen in fall of the year after flowering, about 18 months after the flowers open.
Look-alikes
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Evergreen forests
- Mixed forests
- Range
- Native to Japan (Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu), southern South Korea including Jeju Island, and Guangdong and Hong Kong in China, mostly at 1,000–4,300 ft (300–1,300 m). Not found wild in the US.
- Preferred conditions
- Likes humid, mild climates and lime-free soil; it struggles in dry-summer regions without extra water.
Growing it
- Care
- Hardy to USDA zone 8 and has survived in zone 7b. Grown at the US National Arboretum and JC Raulston Arboretum; it was first introduced to the US in 1893.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Belongs to the Asian evergreen oaks with ringed acorn cups (subgenus Cyclobalanopsis), which some botanists place in their own genus, as Cyclobalanopsis acuta.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- In Japan its very hard, heavy wood was used for tool handles, wooden practice swords, and the necks of the three-stringed shamisen.
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