English oak
Quercus roburEnglish oak is a broad, spreading tree with heavy, twisting branches. Its leaves have deep rounded lobes and a very short stalk. The acorns hang on long stalks, often in pairs.
How to identify English oak →
Lookalikes
English oak or sessile oak?
Both are native oaks with much the same bark and twigs.
The quickest check
The quickest check is the acorn stalk. English oak: one to three on a 5 to 12 cm stalk. Sessile oak: sitting right against the twig, almost stalkless. No acorns on the tree? Check where the leaf meets its stalk.
At a glance
| Look at | English oak | Sessile oak |
|---|---|---|
| Acorn stalk | One to three on a 5 to 12 cm stalk | Sitting right against the twig, almost stalkless |
| Where the leaf meets its stalk | Two flaps pointing back, stalk 4 to 10 mm | Tapering evenly into a yellow 12 to 20 mm stalk |
| Winter bud | Light brown, small and hairless | Light brown, with long white hairs |
Three ways to tell them apart
Acorn stalkAcorns
Where the leaf meets its stalkLeaves
Winter budTwigs and buds
The two trees
Sessile oak
Quercus petraeaSessile oak is a tall, straight tree, common in the hills and the west. Its trunk runs far up into the crown. The acorns sit on the twig, on a very short stalk or none.
How to identify sessile oak →Their other lookalikes
English oak or common ash?Quickest check: the older trunk→
English oak or common beech?Quickest check: the older trunk→
English oak or red oak?Quickest check: the ends of the lobes→
English oak or holm oak?Quickest check: the outline of a leaf→
Sessile oak or red oak?Quickest check: the acorn and its cup→
In the app
See them side by side in Treely
- Both trees, part by partLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed through the year
- Every lookalike side by sideThe checks that settle it, for every pair people mix up
- A short round each dayUntil you can tell them apart at a glance
- The full GuideBoth trees written up in full, with where to find them
Free to download.
Every fact on this page is checked against the Collins Tree Guide, last in November 2026. Spotted something that looks wrong in front of a real tree? Tell us. How we check.
Photographs: Leon Cross (CC BY 4.0), steve_mcwilliam (CC0), cjoynson (CC0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.