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Quercus pubescens Willd.

The tree is 19 meters tall and its circumference is around 6 meters. The estimated age is of around 600 years. The downy oak is a tree, which hails from the Black Sea area and belongs to the family of the Fagaceae. Thanks to its tapering radical system it is resistant to aridity. It is a plant which loves the sun and the high temperatures, but it bears well also cold weather thanks to its peculiar rusticity. It is present in all the Italian regions, but it prefers calcareous soils with a southern exposure between 200 and 800 meters of altitude. It is highly spread in Basilicata in ex arable farming lands and it is a typical essence of the regional mesophyll and meso-thermophilic oak orchards. Even though the wood is composed of irregular fibres, which make manufacturing difficult, it is employed in the naval and railway (sleepers) sectors, to build farming tools and as fuel, thanks to its hardness. Its acorns were used in the past to feed pigs or to produce bread, when they were fresh.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)