Sessile Oak and English Oak or Quercus petraea and Quercus robur are also called king of the forest, keeper of wisdom, tanner’s bark, common oak, pedunculate oak and European oak. It’s called dair in Gaeilge and darach in Scots Gaelic. The name quercus derives from Celtic quer (fine) and cuez (tree) and the name petraea means ‘of rocky places’. There are several hundred species of oak, all native to the Northern hemisphere and 25 of those are native to Europe. However, none are as widespread as the Sessile or English Oak. The oak is an incredibly important tree for native wildlife. Countless insects live in and feed on the oak and depend on it for shelter and sustenance. I feel an immense sense of shelter when sitting with oaks and love having them around my home for this reason.

The acorns are also valuable resources for several mammals and birds. Dioscorides mentioned oak being used to treat digestive issues as well as having astringent qualities. The acorns were eaten as a diuretic, to help treat poisonous bites and ulcers as well as good at relieving inflammation when used in a poultice. The tree’s use in folk medicine is mostly Irish and usually involved usage of the bark collected in the spring. The bark was dried, chopped, boiled and mainly used as a gargle for sore throats.¹ It was also used to treat stomach ailments, hemorrhages², rheumatism³, worms, ulcers and sore breasts or backs were washed with water from which the oak bark was boiled.⁴ Finally, it was often added to a bath to heal aching feet or sprained ankles. It was used sparingly for similar purposes throughout Britain and Scotland.⁵ There is a lovely recipe in the Welsh Physicians of Myddvai that says to take ‘the inner bark of oak, sage and valerian and boil in good ale, and drink a good draught thereof in the morning fasting, three times a week, and it will preserve you from disease.’ 

The oak’s bark was traditionally used in tanning leather for clothing or shoes. In fact, the tannins are so strong that oak is often nailed together with oak pegs because the tannins would otherwise quickly erode iron nails.⁶ The Sessile Oak is the national tree of the Republic of Ireland and tree emblem of Wales and Cornwall while the English Oak is the tree emblem of England. They’re both in the white oak genus. The oak has a long and rich history of being wise and the ruling majesty of the woodlands. There was possibly a widespread Native belief of humans springing from a ‘tree of life’ and being ancestors of man.⁷ It is a thing of dreams to imagine what Europe, Ireland and Britain may have looked like when they were well covered in vast swaths of oak forests abundant with life.

These vast forests were described in the The Chase of Síd na mBan Finn and the Death of Finn (16th century) and that ‘The chase was arranged and spread by them throughout the woods and wildernesses and sloping glens of the lands nearest to them, and throughout smooth, delightful plains and close-sheltering woods and broad-bushed, vast, oak forests.’ Druids undoubtedly practiced many rituals or teachings under groves of oaks and are intimately tied to the tree. The very name druid may have meant ‘oak-knower’ or ‘oak-seer’. Woodlands were places to commune with deities, meditate and in some cases to possibly ask the trees themselves for answers through divination. The oak itself may have been considered a door to the Otherworld or they may have had spirits inhabiting them (both, an individual tree or an entire forest section) for which to convene with. 

In Gaul these sacred groves were called nemeton and this is attested to by a number of place names preserved in archaeology as well as references made by the Romans. The Celtic peoples didn’t need any fancy buildings for spiritual worship because the forest itself was a temple. Mistletoe occasionally grew on oaks (or was put there by druids to be blessed) and was considered to be an herb and plant of significance possibly due to its association with the oak. Pliny said of the druids, ‘…they esteem nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree on which it grows.’ He also went on to describe a festival on the sixth day of the moon where the druids climbed an oak tree, cut a bough of mistletoe, and sacrificed two white bulls as part of a fertility rite. 

Given oak’s divine status, it may have been an additive in alcoholic beverages used in certain rituals.⁸ Unfortunately, many of these sacred oaks and groves were burned or cut down by Christian missionaries such as Winfrid (Saint Boniface) who felled the famous Donar or Thor’s Oak. The oak was mentioned in the Metrical Dindshenchas (15th century) and it was said ‘The Oak of Mugna, it was a joyous treasure; nine hundred bushels was its bountiful yield: the beautiful oak tree fell, across Mag Ailbe of the cruel combats.’ In ancient Irish Brehon Law, there is a section entitled ‘Fidbretha’ or tree judgements where the oak was considered a ‘noble’ tree and it was of the highest offense to unlawfully fell or damage one. An old Scottish rhyme mentions the use of eight chieftain trees including oak as sacred wood in Bealtaine fires saying to ‘choose the oak of the sun’. The oak was associated with royalty as ancient kings and emperors traditionally wore crowns of oak leaves. Oaks were often the sacred witness to coming of age events or vows. The great King Arthur to Eliwlod said ‘I wonder, seeing I am a bard, On the top of the oak and its branches on high, What the vision of an eagle, what the illusion.’ King Arthur’s round table was also said to be made from a single slice of an enormous oak. Myrddin or Merlin, a druid himself, also has an oak tree of his own dubbed ‘Merlin’s oak’ and was depicted as a forest dweller as many druids were thought to be. 

In Basque country, Spain, ‘The Tree of Gernika’ is an oak tree that symbolizes freedom and liberty and one which all kings and lords of Biscay were sworn under. Representatives from local villages also met under this tree or other trees of similar notoriety. In France, the worship of trees continued well after the Druid Gauls were gone and the branch of an oak is part of the National emblem of France. In Irish mythology, The Dagda’s ornate oak harp was called Daur da Bláo, meaning ‘The Oak of Two Blossoms’. The acorns also may have been symbols of immortality and likely a source of great sustenance for livestock or from being pounded into flour, which had many uses, especially in times of famine. Doors, roofs and butter churns⁹ were often made of oak and thought to dispel negativity and malevolent spirits. Some have indeed stood the tests of time and are still in place and used in many old historical buildings and castles. The oak was overall thought to represent strength, nobility, longevity and protection. 

The Sessile and English oak are in the Fagaceae family and native to Europe and parts of Asia but many various species with similar medicinal properties are also native to North and South America. The oak has symmetrically pleasing wavy green leaves with green and yellow male flowers while the female flowers are very inconspicuous. The buds are brownish and clustered along the branches. They’re monoecious, which means the plant has both male and female reproductive parts and are self-pollinating. The oak blooms throughout spring and early summer and may have been associated with the Spring Equinox or Bealtaine. However, the acorns were ready to be harvested in the fall which may have also lended association to Lughnasadh or the Autumn Equinox. The oak is a deciduous tree that is hardy to zones 4 through 9. It has a circumference up to 12.2 m or 40 ft. as is the thickest tree in Great Britain and can grow up to 20 – 40 m or 65 – 131 ft. It’s a very long lived tree, upwards of many hundreds of years old. The oak is generally very tolerant of soil conditions although it does prefer moisture over drought. The oak’s energy is warm and dry. The leaves, inner bark and acorns are all edible when processed correctly and have a bitter flavor. It’s most commonly used as an infusion, bath infusion, poultice, mouthwash or as food. The timber of the oak is very renowned because of its durability and strength but it takes up to 150 years for an oak to be ready to use in construction. The bark should be collected in the spring of younger trees (4 to 5 years max) and dried in the sun. Due to the high tannin content, the use of oak is not recommended long term and to be worked with very carefully. Acorns are collected fresh as they fall in autumn. You want to look for acorns that still have their caps fully closed and tight as they are more unlikely to be infested with worms. 

Benefits

analgesic, anthelmintic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, anticancer and antitumor, antioxidant, antiseptic, antiviral, astringent, digestion tonic, emmenagogue, hemostatic

Recipe

Cooked acorns

Ingredients: 16 oz. or 2 cups of acorns, 2 pots

Instructions: Clean acorns very well letting them soak in cold water. Remove and dispose of any floating acorns as they have likely gone bad. Let the acorns air dry and then remove the shells and caps with a nutcracker or hammer if necessary. Fill two pots half way with water. Bring one pot to a boil and put the acorns in. Boil until it turns a strong brown color (approx. 10 minutes). Begin boiling the second pot of water. Strain the acorns and place them in the new pot of clear boiling water. Wait until that water turns brown and then repeat process. While it’s boiling in new pot, start the other one so that it’s ready by the time it’s done. Your goal is to not let the acorns cool and to “leach” the tannins out of the acorns which make them taste bitter. Do this process until the water is clear after boiling. This usually takes up to approx. an hour. Once they’re finished, spread them out on a baking sheet and place them in the sun to dry, bake them for approx. 20 minutes on the warm setting or use a dehydrator on the low setting. Once fully dried they’re ready to be eaten or added to a recipe. If you want them roasted, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place acorns in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for an hour. Add salt or seasonings that you prefer.

References

1. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0245, Page 010
2. K’ Eogh, John, Botanologia Universalis Hibernica, or An Irish Herbal, Cork, 1735, edited by Michael Scott, 1986, pg. 113.
3. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0082, Page 404
4. Collected by Pilib Mach Niocaill at St Columba’s Abbey, Navan, Co. Meath. The Irish National Folklore Collection 1937-39.
5. Allen, David and Hatfield, Gabrielle, Medicinal Plants in Folk Tradition: An Ethnobotany of Britain & Ireland, Timber Press, 2004, pg. 88.
6.  Scallan, Christine, Irish Herbal Cures, Gill & Macmillan, 1994, pg. 84.
7. Lehner, Ernst, Folklore and Symbolism of Flowers, Plants and Trees, Colchis Books, 1960, pg. 42.
8. Ratsch, Christian, The Dictionary of Sacred and Magical Plants, Abc-Clio Inc., 1992, pg. 56.
9. Irish Folk Duchas, The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1037, Page 21

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