Family: beeches (Fagaceae)
Flowering time: April–May
Size: up to 20 m
Habitat: sunny rocky slopes
Downy oak (Quercus pubescens) is a deciduous tree with deeply furrowed bark. The leaf blade of its pinnately lobed leaves is 4 to 8 cm long, with star-shaped lobes densely arranged around the leaf stalk about 10 mm. The main feature by which we will distinguish downy oak from similar oak species is the dense hairiness of its buds and young shoots. Young leaves are initially densely pubescent on both sides, but later the upper side becomes bare. Its small fruits are usually sessile, 1 to 2 cm long. For oaks, a cup-shaped covering that surrounds the fruit like a cap reaches halfway along the length of the acorn.
Downy oak grows on barren, dry and well-ventilated soils in warmer, brighter locations. It is common in the southwestern, submediterranean part of Slovenia; toward the northeast it becomes rarer. In the extreme northeast and northwest of Slovenia its conditions are not suitable, so we will not find it there.
