Quercus myrsinifolia

Quercus myrsinifolia, also known as Bamboo-leaved Oak, is a rare small tree from the land of the rising sun. Pyramidal in its youth, it takes its time to balance its habit and form a rounded crown. It unfolds an elegant and slender foliage, bronze when budding, green in summer, turning purple in autumn, more or less evergreen in winter. Its bark is dark gray, punctuated with lenticels. This hardy species will thrive in a damp, neutral to acidic, fertile soil, in full sun.

The Bamboo-leaf Oak belongs to the Fagaceae family. It comes from the southeast of Japan, not far from the city of Osaka, and southern China, in the mountains overlooking the Sea of Japan. It grows at low altitudes in deep, humus-rich and light soils, and is exposed to the full force of the sea winds from the Pacific Ocean. Preferring mildness, this tree has adapted perfectly to the London and Scottish winters, where arboretums have welcomed it.

The growth of this oak is very slow; it will reach maturity at around 30 years, forming a small tree 15 m (49ft) tall and 10 m (33ft) wide. In our climates, it will not exceed 5 m (16ft) in height and 3 m (10ft) in width. Its habit, rather conical during its youth, becomes more rounded over the years. Its trunk will always be very straight and short, and its circumference will quickly reach 40 cm (16in) in 5-7 years, supporting powerful branches. It is grey and becomes covered with lenticels as it ages. This oak will live for about 250 years outside its native region. Its slender greyish branches bear characteristic fine lanceolate foliage; each leaf measures 13 cm (5in) in length and 4 cm (2in) in width, and shows pronounced veins. It is bronze to cinnamon-coloured in spring, then shiny green on the upper surface and silvery downy on the underside. They persist during not too harsh winters. Depending on the intensity of the cold, some leaves take on a beautiful purple hue in autumn before falling. It produces greenish flowers in late summer, grouped in pendulous aments. It is a monoecious tree, with separate male and female flowers. It does not bear fruit in our climates, but can develop a sterile acorn, a beautiful acorn with a slightly flattened spiny cupule, which turns from tender green to brown before falling 10 months to 1 year later. Its root system is deep and powerful, of the taproot type, ensuring a solid and lasting anchorage in the humus-rich soils it appreciates.

Quercus myrsinifolia resembles a camphor tree from a distance, without the fragrance of course, but deserves just as much a place of honour in the garden, especially since it will withstand our cold winters much better. It can be planted either in isolation or in rows, in a seaside garden, as it withstands sea spray very well. It naturally belongs in a Japanese-style garden, in front of a bamboo curtain, accompanied by Nandinas and small conifers (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana Yellow Spire, Chamaecyparis obtusa Chirimen). To accompany its beautiful foliage from spring to autumn, you can also choose from numerous infinitely refined Asian flowering shrubs, such as Japanese cherry and apricot trees, deciduous magnolias, azaleas, and autumn camellias, which require the same growing conditions.