The buds are large, long and pointed, shiny russet or light brown in colour with minute tomentum.

The leaves turn brown, russet or yellow in fall and sometimes remain attached to the twigs until the following spring.

It is adapted to the subcontinental climate of southeastern Europe, but the main factor of its occurrence at a particular site is the soil.

It is specially adapted to heavy acidic soils (cambisols and vertisols), typical of Kosovo, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania.

Hence, in contradiction to its English vernacular name, which was assigned when the Kingdom of Hungary controlled large parts of the Balkans, the Hungarian oak is a very rare tree in modern Hungary, where the soils are generally very rich in lime.

is the most widespread association of this oak in the Balkans, which is also the most common forest type in Serbia and Kosovo.