On Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:16:16 +0000, K wrote:

Sacha writes
On 2009-10-30 11:33:48 +0000, K said:

Just back from a small Greek island a few miles from Turkey, where we
saw a large oak tree, with leathery evergreen leaves about 9cm long
and 3 cm wide, with toothed edges.
But the most striking thing was the acorns - almost 5cm long,
peering out of a thick shaggy cup 5.5cm diameter.
Best identification so far is Quercus calliprenos. But I think the
scales on the cup of that one are turned out at the tip, whereas the
ones on mine are laid flat.

Was it Kastellorizo, Kay? If so, lucky you but lucky you, anyway! We
have a super book on the plants of Crete and I'll have a look in there.
But if you think it's specific to one island that might not help.
However, given the winds there and the occasional volcano throwing
things about, that's probably not likely.

No, Kalymnos. A limestone island fantastic for climbing, walking, caving
and snorkelling.

I don't imagine for a minute it's specific to one island, but the Greek
islands are so spread around that saying we were a few miles from Turkey
(we could see Bodrum) seemed the best way of giving the location. Q
calliprenos is also known as the Palestinian or Levantine Oak.

I've looked in the Blamey/Grey-Wilson Wildflowers of the Med and not
been able to identify it. The leaves are like Q aegilops (Q macrolepis)
(Valonia Oak) which occurs on Crete, but the acorns are much larger than
the 2-3cm quoted, and the cups have flat rather than recurved scales.

I went to Kalymnos when I was younger and did a lot of walking around
the forest and getting lost. I remember the unusual oak trees which I
think are the sawtooth oak. The leaves match your description. I
remember thinking they were so different to the oak trees in England.
The small island next to Kalymnos also had lots of unusual trees but I
can't remember the name of the island.

Steve



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