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Re: Cork oak - Quercus suber

Tim Dutton wrote:
> 
> I have a small Quercus suber plant that has been donated to me, and I am
> wondering where to plant it. The only book I have that mentions it, says it
> grows to about 20m tall by 15m wide - pretty big. The question is, how long
> does it take to get this size, or to put it another way, how big could I
> expect the tree to be in 20 years?
> 
> I assume this is a Mediterranean region plant, but my book does not even
> tell me that. I know I saw these oaks growing in Portugal once when I was a
> small boy, and was intrigued that the cork was harvested from them without
> killing the trees. Any information about its likes and dislikes, frost
> tolerance, etc. will be gratefully received.
> 
Hi Tim
This must be one of the rarest trees in New Zealand. However did you get
one?  I looked in all my usually helpful books, but the only one that
mentioned Q suber was the very old book by Harrison and all he had to
say about its development was, "can grow to 60ft high" which was what
you already knew anyway.

However, did you know the Wellington Botanic garden has three or four
mature trees? They are, I think, on the path which runs down from the
herb garden to the main gardens and my ( rather vague) recollection is
that they are nowhere near the dimensions you gave and are distinctly
scruffy. Maybe thay don't much like the climate. This would account for
Harrison saying they are much commoner in Oz.

If you were to contact the staff at the gardens, they may be able to
give you some useful information. In fact, if you can get on to the
Director (Mike Oats) it might be helpful to mention my name, as we have
known eachother for may years through the Institute of Horticulture.

Moira
-- 
Tony & Moira Ryan <theryans@xtra.co.nz>
Wainuiomata, New Zealand
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