Tel:01225 312084

PASSIONS IN BOTANY LECTURE

THE WORLD OF OAKS

Antoine Le Hardÿ de Beaulieu
Botanist and Monographer

Monday 12th May 2008   7:00 for 7:30 pm

For 150 Million years, Genus Quercus has spread its 500 species across the globe, from swamp and meadow to desert and craggy outcrop, habitats as varied as:  -  its many forms - from dwarf shrub to handsome forest giant, its leaves easily recognised, or as easily mistaken for chestnut, maple, alder, holly, willow or bamboo,  -  its many uses - timber for quiet houses and for men-of-war, hedges for Jerusalem and acorns for pork sausages in Spain, sleepers for rails and shingles for roofs, cork for wine and twigs and leaves for cattlefeed, logs for heating and medicine for burns, bark for tanning and dyes and galls for ink, a carpenter's cornucopia for ploughs and tools and windows and wheels, roots for truffles and acorns to mill for loaves, - and its magic to Druids and Gardeners alike. .