Egg-shaped and 2 to 3 cm long, each in a scaly cup, in small clusters sitting right against the twig.
Native · Up to 42 m
Sessile oak
Quercus petraea · Fagaceae
Also called durmast oak
Sessile 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.
Often mistaken for English oak. How to tell them apart →Know it byAcornsEgg-shaped, 2 to 3 cm, in a scaly cup, in small clusters.LeavesLeathery, five or six shallow lobes a side, stalk 12 to 20 mm.ShapeTall and straight, with a domed crown.
AcornsEgg-shaped, 2 to 3 cm, in a scaly cup, in small clusters.LeavesLeathery, five or six shallow lobes a side, stalk 12 to 20 mm.ShapeTall and straight, with a domed crown.Then check · BarkGreyish brown with deep cracks running up and down the trunk, often covered in moss and lichen in the wet west.
How to identify a sessile oak
Dark green and leathery, with shallow, regular lobes, five or six a side, on a yellow stalk 12 to 20 mm long.
Tall and straight, with a domed crown and a long trunk that runs far up into it before branching.
Learn the sessile oak in TreelyEvery part through the year, and a short round each day until you know it.Get Treely
Every part, in photographs
When to look
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In leaf
Catkins
Acorns
In leaf: April to November · Catkins: May · Acorns: July to October
Where you’ll find it
Wild ones grow mostly in upland and western woods where rainfall is highest, often above 300 m, on shallow, acid, sandy soils. Many of the best grow on steep hillsides. It grows on light soils in southern England too, but avoids heavy clay. It is missing from many lowland areas, and is seldom planted.
What it’s mistaken for
Sessile oak or English oak?Both are native oaks with similar bark and shoots. English oak has long stalks on its acorns, and sessile oak has them on its leaves.Acorn stalk→
Sessile oak or red oak?Both are big oaks with lobed leaves and acorns.Acorn and its cup→
- Turkey oakBoth have acorns that sit on the twig, with little or no stalk. Twig. Sessile oak: light brown, with long white hairs. Turkey oak: each bud in long twisting whiskers.
- Swedish whitebeamBoth have leaves with shallow, rounded lobes. Swedish whitebeam is a tough tree, often planted in streets. Leaf. Sessile oak: hairs along the centre line and main veins. Swedish whitebeam: a close coat of grey hairs all over.
In the app
There’s more of the sessile oak in Treely
- Every part, through the yearLeaves, bark, buds, flowers and fruit, photographed in every season
- Its lookalikes, side by sideThe checks that settle it, part by part
- A short round each dayUntil you know the sessile oak on sight, from any side
- Name it from a photoA leaf, the bark or a flower, and Treely tells you which tree
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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: steve_mcwilliam (CC0), Leon Cross (CC BY 4.0), cjoynson (CC0), Maksymilian Bobko (CC BY 4.0). With thanks to everyone who shares their photographs on iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons.