Quercus sessilifolia ("Tsukubanegashi")

Japanese name: ツクバネガシ （衝羽根樫）
Scientific name: Quercus sessilifolia

[Overview]
An evergreen tree up to 20 m tall with a trunk up to 60 cm across, found on slopes along streams and similar places.
The bark is split lengthwise.
Leaves are simple and alternate, broadly lanceolate, 5–12 cm long.
The upper surface of the leaf is at first covered with soft hairs, but later becomes hairless and glossy.
The underside is also at first densely covered with stellate soft hairs, but later becomes hairless.
The margin of the upper half of the leaf has low teeth.
The petiole is 0.4–1.2 cm long.
There are male flowers and female flowers.
The male flowers form catkins 6–7 cm long, densely covered with silky hairs, and several hang down from the base of the new branches.
The female inflorescences stand upright in the leaf axils at the top of the new branches.
The fruit is an ovate to elliptic nut (acorn) 1.2–1.5 cm in diameter, which ripens in autumn of the following year; the cupule (acorn cap) is cup-shaped, and the involucral scales are arranged in rings.

[Uses]
The wood has a beautiful grain and is used for tokobashira (alcove posts) and musical instruments, and also as a substitute for shitan (rosewood).

[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.

[Notes]
The Japanese name likens the way the leaves gather at the branch tips to a tsukubane (a shuttlecock).

View this page in Japanese (日本語)