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Tree Talk: Oak
By ROWAN LANNING
Latin name: Quercus species
Irish name: Dair
Common name: Oak
Native varieties: Sessile oak (quercus petraea), Pedunculate oak (quercus robur)
“The summer sun was glowing, the farmers’ men were mowing, the river gently flowing, and it filled our hearts with glee, the birds their notes were swelling, I to her my love was telling, and we seated ‘neath the branches, of the old Oak tree”
– An old ballad recorded in the National Folklore Collection
The Oak is Ireland’s national tree, considered a keystone species in its unmatched ability to support a highly biodiverse array of life in its forests. Oak trees support 284 different insect species including at least 67 species of moth, 324 different lichen species, and can live for over 1,000 years – perhaps one of the reasons it is known as the “king” of the forest, or the “lord of biodiversity”.
The mighty oak has been a very important tree to the people of this island as well as across Europe for many thousands of years. Many well-known early Christian sites are associated with oak groves, and the pre-Christian druids of old also favoured the oak as a sacred tree. Its significance can be seen in the number of place names associated with the tree – In the book ‘Trees of Ireland’ Charles Nelson recorded over 1,600 townlands whose names contained the word “doire”, meaning ‘oakwood’ as Gaeilge. Derrinagree is one such place name, Doire na Graí as Gaeilge, meaning the oakwood of the cattle. It is a tree of many uses – its wood is used for furniture & charcoal making or smoking food, its bark is used for leather tanning and natural dying, its acorns for feeding pigs and other animals, and its roots support the growth of delicious truffles. Although oak has been prized by both animal and human alike, it is not nearly as widespread as it once was. Until the mid-19th century it was the main material used for shipbuilding, with 8ha of oak timber used to create one naval galley. English imperialists cleared vast swaths of oak from both Scotland and Ireland (especially in the Munster Plantation) to create the British Navy – one reason why some say that every oak left to grow tall is a victory against colonialism. How many oaks grow in your area?
