Quercus myrsinifolia ("Shirakashi")

Japanese name: シラカシ （白樫）
Scientific name: Quercus myrsinifolia

[Overview]
An evergreen tree up to 20 m tall with a trunk up to 80 cm across.
The bark has lenticels in vertical streaks.
Young branches are at first densely covered with pale yellowish-brown soft hairs, but soon become hairless.
Leaves are simple and alternate, oblong, 7–14 cm long, thick and hard.
The upper surface of the leaf is hairless and glossy.
The underside is at first sparsely covered with fine silky hairs, but soon becomes hairless and slightly whitish.
The margin of the upper half of the leaf has low, blunt teeth.
The petiole is 1–2 cm long.
There are male flowers and female flowers.
The male flowers form catkins 5–12 cm long, densely covered with brown silky hairs, and hang down several at a time from the base of the new branches and from the leaf axils of the previous year's branches.
The female inflorescences stand upright in the leaf axils at the top of the new branches and bear 3–4 female flowers.
The fruit is an ovoid to oblong nut (acorn) 1.5–1.8 cm long, which ripens in autumn of the same year.
The cupule (acorn cap) is ring-shaped, with 6–8 rings.

[Uses]
The leaves and bark are used as medicine, as a tanning agent, and as a mordant.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed.
The germination rate drops if acorns are dried, so sow them immediately after collecting, or keep them moist until spring.
It prefers sunny, well-drained, fertile soil.
Rainfall is sufficient for watering.
Apply organic fertilizer in winter.
Pests and diseases include powdery mildew and teppomushi (longhorn beetle larvae).

View this page in Japanese (日本語)