Quercus lusitanica

Gall oak
Quercus lusitanica[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Rosids
Order: Fagales
Family: Fagaceae
Genus: Quercus
Section: Lepidobalanus
Species: Q. lusitanica
Binomial name
Quercus lusitanica
Lam. 1785
Synonyms[2]

Quercus lusitanica, commonly known as gall oak, Lusitanian oak, or dyer's oak, is a species of oak native to Morocco, Portugal, and Spain (Galicia, western Andalucia).[3] Quercus lusitanica is the source of commercial nutgalls. These galls are produced by the infection from the insect Cynips gallae tinctoriae. They are used for dyeing.

Several other species are known colloquially as "gall oaks;" indeed, galls can be found on a large percentage of oak species.[4] The specific epithet "lusitanica" refers to the ancient Roman Province of Lusitania, corresponding roughly to present-day Portugal and Extremadura in Spain.[5]

References

  1. ↑ 1897 illustration from Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen
  2. ↑ The Plant List, Quercus lusitanica Lam.
  3. ↑ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  4. ↑ Cranshaw, Whitney (2004). Garden Insects of North America. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09560-4.
  5. ↑ Garcia, José Manuel (1989). História de Portugal: Uma Visão Global. Lisboa: Editorial Presença. pp. 32, 33, 38. ISBN 9722309897.
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