Oak
Simone,Aneza,Naiara,Letizia
FUNDED BY EUROPEAN UNION
GROUP NUMBER: 18
Scientific name: Quercus robur
Family: Fagaceae
Genus: Quercus
Species: Quercus Robur
Vulgar name
Spanish: Roble
Basque: Haritz
Italian: Quercia
Greek: Δρύς
Morphological description
Uses, threats and singularity
Threats: The leaves and acorns of the oak tree are poisonous to cattle, horses, sheep and goats in large amounts due to the toxin tannic, acid, and cause kidney damage and gastroenteritis Symptoms of poisoning include lack of apetite depression, constipation, diarrhea (which may contain blood), blood in urine, and colic. The exception to livestock and oak toxicity is the domestic pig, which may be fed entirely on acorns in the right conditions, and has traditionally been pastured in oak woodlands (such as the Spanish dehesa and the English system of pannage) for hundreds of years.
Singularities:
- The Emancipation Oak is designated one of the 10 Great Trees of the World by the National Geographic Society and is part of the National Historic Landmark district of Hampton University.
- The Ivenack Oak which is one of the largest trees in Europe is located in Mecklenburg- Vorpommern , Germany, and is approximately 800 years old.
- The Bowthorpe Oak , located in Bourne, Lincolnshire , is thought to be 1,000 years old. It was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records and was filmed for a TV documentary for its astonishing longevity.
Stories about the oak
Ersittone and oaks's nymphs
The story of devil and oak
A popular legend Sardinian starring oak. One day the devil came from the Lord, saying: "You are the lord and master of all creation, while I, miserable, I do not own anything. Give me a lordship, though minimal, of a part of creation; I'll settle for little." What would you have? "asked God. "Give me, for example, the power of the whole forest" proposed the devil. It is the Lord decreed "But only when the woods are completely without foliage, or during the winter,in spring the power will come back to me." When trees deciduous forests knew of the pact, they began to worry about, and with the passage of time, the concern turned to agitation. "What can we do?" they asked in despair. "To our leaves fall in autumn." The problem seemed insoluble when the beech had an idea: "Let's see the oak, stronger and wiser and we all older. Perhaps you will find a ploy to save us" The oak, having thought seriously replied: " I will try to hold back my dry leaves on the branches on your not until the new leaves sprout. So the forest is never completely bare and the devil will have no dominion over us. " Since then, the dry leaves of oak, leathery and serrated, remain on the branches to fall completely only when at least one bush was covered with new leaves.
Symbolism
Why it's simbolically important?
The oak branch was to the Roman symbol of virtue, strength, courage, dignity and perseverance. It has always been the symbol of strength, virility and the value in the military, as the olive branch is a symbol of peace (both appear in the emblem of the Italian Republic). The oak tree was the symbol of the Democratic Party of the Left and then Democrats Sinistra.Fin ancient times, the oak tree was considered sacred and oracular. His cult dates back to prehistoric civilizations Roman, Greek and Celtic. Celts considered the queen of the forest, the adjectives that described her were strong and perfect, with its towering branches, and roots of the firm to have even greater. It was the symbol of fertility calendar months, but above all symbolized the strong protection, the primordial force and the ability to survive even in the most difficult. It is often depicted as "the arbero of life." It 'a tree that can live very long; some specimens have exceeded 1000 years of life. The oak is a tree that has in it a sense of completeness and eternity, because on her hair the flowers come in both sexes. Bringing with them the male seed (the father) and the female seed (the mother), she has the gift of procreation third (the son) that she is. It follows that the number 3 belongs to it. Among the branches, according to the Celts, they lived the gods of heaven, and for this, the ships, the house doors and shields had to be made with the wood of oak. The representations that the oak takes in the European tradition are very numerous. Because of its large proportions has always been considered a tree cosmological and anthropological par excellence, as well as being regarded as "tree of wisdom". Zeus had taken her as a favorite tree and the oak is in fact the Sun but also the dark and cloudy sky, the natural place of the god of thunder and lightning. The early Greeks called the oaks "pròterai matéres", the "first mother". No wonder then that the oaks have preceded men, fathers of men, that is, the gods, and even bees, symbolizing the soul is immortal and that inhabit hewn logs of oak. It was split in the trunk of an oak tree that Castor Hellenic hid from their enemies, or in the "womb".