Cerris, a section of the genus characterised by shoot buds surrounded by soft bristles, bristle-tipped leaf lobes, and acorns that usually mature in 18 months.

The species' range extended to northern Europe and the British Isles before the previous ice age, about 120,000 years ago.

It was reintroduced in the UK and Ireland in the eighteenth century as an ornamental tree,[5] its gall wasps now provide early food for birds.

[6] The tree harbours the gall wasp Andricus quercuscalicis whose larvae seriously damage the acorns of native British oaks.

These include 'Ambrozyana', evergreen except in severe winters, originating from the Arboretum in Slovakia, home of the late Count Ambrozy; 'Diversifolia', with the leaves extremely deeply cut leaving a narrow strip down the centre, and very corky bark; 'Fulhamensis' (Fulham oak), raised at Osborne's nursery in Fulham c.1760; and 'Lucombeana' (Lucombe oak), raised by William Lucombe at his nursery in Exeter c. 1762.