''Quercus acuta'', the Japanese evergreen oak, is an oak native to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

Province and

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

Province.

Description

Due to its foliage and habitat, it looks rather unlike most other oaks. ''Quercus acuta'' is usually bushy and densely domed, reaching a height of 14 meters. The bark is smooth and dark grey. Leaves are dark and glossy above and yellowish beneath. They narrow to a long, finely-rounded tip. The flowers are on a stiff 5 cm catkin. Heartwood is pale reddish brown to reddish brown. Sapwood is pale yellowish brown with a slightly reddish color.

Common names

In Japan, it is called ''akagashi'' (赤樫 - あかがし), but is also known by the names ''oogashi'' (大樫 - オオガシ) and ''oobagashi'' (大葉樫 - オオバガシ). In the Korean language, it is 붉가시.

Uses

Like ''shirakashi'' (白樫 - しらかし) (

Quercus myrsinifolia ''Quercus myrsinifolia'' is an Asian species of tree in the ring-cupped oaks subgenus of the family Fagaceae. It has several common names, including bamboo-leaf oak, Chinese evergreen oak, and Chinese ring-cupped oak. Its Chinese name is ; piny ...

), whose wood is often called shirokashi outside of Japan, and other related sub-genera, Japanese Evergreen Oak, or ''akagashi'', is a preferred choice for Japanese martial arts practice weapons such as

bokken A ''bokken'' (, , "wood", and ''ken'', "sword") (or a ''bokutō'' ) is a Japanese wooden sword used for training in kenjutsu. It is usually the size and shape of a ''katana'', but is sometimes shaped like other swords, such as the ''wakizashi'' ...

.James Goedkoop: "Woods for Training Weapons". ''Aikiweb'

Accessed 10 November 2012. This is due to its uniformly tight grain structure resulting from its continuous growing season. It should not be confused with the oriental or Asian white oak, ''

Quercus aliena ''Quercus aliena'', the galcham oak or oriental white oak, is a species of oak in the family Fagaceae, in the white oak section ''Quercus''. Description It is a deciduous tree growing to tall with a trunk up to in diameter with fissured gray ...

''.

References

acuta Trees of Japan Trees of Korea Trees of China Plants described in 1784 {{Quercus-stub