Quercus × turneri 'Pseudoturneri'

Green oak in winter

This oak tree, which is also known as 'Austrian Oak' in Dutch, is a hybrid of the native oak (Quercus robur) and holm oak (Q. ilex), which keeps its leaves in the winter. The cross occurred in Essex, England, in 1780 in the nursery belonging to Spencer Turner. In Kew Gardens, London, there is a specimen of Quercus x turneri from 1798, which flowered for the first time in 1838. A second example, again in Kew Gardens, was named Quercus x turneri 'Pseudoturneri' and flowered for the first time in 1880. The origin of this specimen is unclear.

This tree keeps all its leaves in the winter and in the spring, and only when the young leaf buds bust are the majority of the ‘old’ leaves shed. The leaves are dark green with a leathery feel and have distinctive hairs along the veins on its under surface.

This cultivar develops from a shrub-like habit into a, sometimes, multi-trunked tree with a height of 8-10 m. 

The Dutch name for this oak is the Austrian oak and this is derived from its former scientific name, Quercus austriaca sempervirens. ‘Pseudoturneri’ is an evergreen cultivar. All examples are clones, or perhaps seedlings, of the specimen in Kew Gardens, London.

The habit is erect, later widely spreading. Young twigs are pale yellow and covered in velvety hairs. The leaves are leathery, 5-13 cm long and 2.5 - 4 cm wide, and have 4 to 8 pairs of shallow lobes or teeth. The upper surface of the leaves are dark green, the lower surface is grey and covered in felt-like hairs. In spring its beautiful inflorescence certainly deserves attention. The acorns are narrow, oval, about 2 cm long, often borne in clusters of 3 to 7.