15. Tollcross Oak
An oak from the Balkans is a significant feature of a late Victorian park in Glasgow.
Welcome to The Street Tree! This is the fifteenth in a series of posts about great individual trees from Britain and Ireland. Look out for at least one a week over the coming months.
An established Hungarian oak can be a handsome tree, and the example in Glasgow’s Tollcross Park is one of the best. It is a large shapely dome growing opposite the park’s Winter Gardens beyond the formal rose beds. It’s certainly the most striking tree here and quite possibly the largest. Tollcross Park opened in 1897, a date that could also mark this tree’s planting. Not far from the Tollcross Oak, a rather smaller tree can be seen, it is a veteran ‘Imperialis’ alder cultivar with deeply incised leaves: a rare and confusing tree.
Species details
Hungarian Oak
Quercus frainetto
Where to find it
Tollcross Park, Wellshot Road, Glasgow G32 7AX
///often.string.kept | 55.847442, -4.180868
Hungarian oak notes
Despite their name, Hungarian oaks are extremely rare in Hungary, they are really a species originating from the Balkans and to a lesser degree, Italy. That name has more to do with European geopolitics of the late nineteenth century when the territory where Quercus frainetto is abundant fell within the borders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is also striking that many of the finest Hungarian oaks in Britain and Ireland grow in Scotland whose climate, it is fair to say, differs somewhat from that of Transylvania.
