This is a tree species with uncommon characteristics compared to the others that normally populate our woods. Botanically it is classified as Quercus crenata or turkey cork oak or green oak, a fertile hybrid between the cork oak (Quercus suber) and turkey oak (Quercus cerris). The bark is suberose, the leaves are shiny, have a leathery shape and texture like cork, are semi-persistent and they change annually; the acorns have a curly dome like those of the turkey oak.
The age of this tree, like its origin, are unknown, but it was already mentioned in 1905 by G. Negri in the book "La vegetazione della collina". An old farmer from Casalborgone once said that he had heard of an ancient medicinal use of the foliage of this oak to heal animals (decocted or used as it was, for rabbits, for example).
