She Oak’s Character

Ilya Fomin

A typical conifer, right? Wrong. She-oaks form a sister family to birches and beeches, and they ultimately have flowers. The first photo features male (a spiky sphere) and female ("massage rollers") cones of a beach she-oak.

She-oaks grow easily on desperately poor soils, so they were introduced to many countries in order to minimise soil erosion, especially along the seashore. The catch, called allelopathy, was realised later: she-oaks release certain chemicals, which suppress other plants. The second photo depicts literally no undergrowth beneath she-oaks, while there is a plenty of grass and bushes just one metre away. A dense thick carpet of needle-like leaves on the forest floor blocks the sunlight, so it is even harder for other plants to grow.

However, she-oaks have not become the only plant species on this planet. Among the possible reasons may be their extreme flammability. It is one of the best kinds of firewood with extremely high heat productivity. Also, its wood is extremely hard. Aboriginal people in Australia have made boomerangs and spears from it for at least the last 10 000 years. The high quality of the wood, just a tiny bit worse than oaks, provided this plant with its common name. This name appeared in books in around 1804 and is still in use.

Male (a spiky sphere) and female ("massage rollers") cones of a beach she-oak.

Suppressed undergrowth beneath she-oaks.