54. Allerton Oak

Liverpool’s most distinguished tree is an ancient oak in historic Calderstones Park.

Among Liverpool’s arboreal treasures the Allerton Oak is the jewel in its crown. Visitors are frequently amazed to find such an impressive tree surviving in a quiet corner of a city park. It is reputedly 1,000 years old and unsurprisingly is now in a state of collapse. A fence protects it and reclining limbs are propped. Like many oaks, it appears to be a hybrid of sessile and pedunculate parentage.

Species details

Hybrid oak
Quercus x rosacea

Where to find it

Calderstones Park, Calderstones Road, Liverpool L18 3JB
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Hybrid oak notes

There are more hybrid oaks out there than many may imagine. They are a hybrid between our two native oaks, pedunculate (Q. robur) and sessile (Q. petraea) and have features intermediate between the two parents. The easiest way to tell the two parents apart is by the petiole, the stalk attaching the leaf to its twig. In sessile oaks, this is pronounced, and in pedunculate it is miniscule. This is reversed in acorns, pedunculate oak holds its acorns on long stalks, while sessile oaks have no stalk. The hybrid has characteristics between the two, but it is variable. So if you see an oak and it is not obviously one or the other species, chances are it's a hybrid. The BSBI have produced a useful crib sheet for those who are intrigued. And if you’re looking at an oak in Scotland, the chances are it is a hybrid – most oak trees growing there are Q. x rosacea.

Leaves of Q. x rosacea showing a distinct petiole akin to Q. petraea, but a shape close to Q. robur

Some pedunculate oaks

34. Acocks Green Oak

25. Bexley Charter Oak

And a sessile oak

3. The Robertson Oak