142. Backstreet Oak

How a rare Turner’s oak ended up in a subprime location in Devon keeps me wondering.

A remarkable tree that eludes many, the Backstreet Oak is tucked away in a jumble of parking spaces, service exits and unloved back gardens, down a lane off Curledge Street. It is an unusual Turner’s oak, a hybrid between pedunculate and holm oaks that, down here on the English Riviera, is pretty much evergreen with just a week or two in March when its canopy thins before spring’s new growth appears.

Species details

Turner’s oak
Quercus × turneri

Where to find it

Midvale Road, Paignton TQ4 5BD
///plot.gains.stacks | 50.433821, -3.5676020

Turner’s oak notes

Leathery leaves of a Turner’s oak

Turner’s oak is a bit of a mystery. It is thought to be a hybrid between a holm oak (Q. ilex) and pedunculate oak (Q. robur), that first arose in an Essex nursery courtesy of a Mr. Turner over 200 years ago. Those two parent oaks are, as oaks go, very distantly related, and occasionally interbreed where their ranges overlap. So, the hybrid has actually been around for much longer, perhaps we should think of Mr. T as the populariser of an interesting species. As one parent is evergreen and the other deciduous, it is often regarded as a semi-evergreen species – one that has a very brief period of leaflessness in the spring as the previous year’s leaves fall just as new ones emerge. In Paignton, this example at least appears to be pretty much evergreen.