Quercus serrata subsp. serrata var. serrata ("Konara")

Japanese name: コナラ （小楢）
Scientific name: Quercus serrata subsp. serrata var. serrata

[Overview]
A deciduous tree up to 15 m tall with a trunk up to 60 cm across.
The bark is irregularly split lengthwise.
Leaves are simple and alternate, oblong, 7.5–10 cm long.
The upper surface of the leaf is at first densely covered with silky hairs, but later becomes hairless and glossy.
The underside is covered with silky hairs and small stellate hairs, and appears grayish white.
The leaf margin has rounded teeth.
The petiole is 1–1.2 cm long.
The leaves usually turn yellow in autumn.
There are male flowers and female flowers.
The male flowers form catkins 2–6 cm long, densely covered with silky hairs, and many hang down from the base of the new branches.
The female flowers are borne several together in the leaf axils at the top of the new branches.
The fruit is an oblong nut (acorn) 1.6–2.2 cm long and 0.8–1.2 cm wide, which ripens in autumn of the same year; the cupule (acorn cap) is cup-shaped, and the involucral scales are arranged like overlapping roof tiles.

[Uses]
It is a representative tree of coppice woodland, and its sap attracts rhinoceros beetles and stag beetles.
The wood is used for shiitake bed logs and as firewood and charcoal material.
The bark is called sekiryuhi and is 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, airy, well-drained, fertile soil that is slightly moist.
Apply organic fertilizer in winter and slow-release fertilizer in autumn.

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