The oak. Patriarch of the forest and hero of folklore, healer and natural monument

A mighty oak, an age-old oak  

Stands there beside the ravine. 

It has flung out its leafy forelock, 

Its brow touches the cloud.

Its boughs have been bent since time began, 

Its bark is as if of steel. 

In the forest, from afar, to the grandfather 

The trees are bowing down. 

(Mariia Pryhara) 

In the forest, among birches and poplars, it stands out with its mighty trunk, its curly crown and its carved leaves.

Lviv. Enerhetychna Street. A monument oak. Trunk girth 5 m

The majestic tree is called the king of the forest, the master. The most epoch-making and honoured representative of the flora in our forests is the oak.

An oak. The Oleksandriia arboretum. Bila Tserkva, Kyiv region

Historical events and legends are bound up with it, it is sung of in myths and fairy tales, songs have been composed and canvases painted about it. The oak, together with the guelder rose and the willow, is among the most revered trees in Ukrainian folklore.

The oak of the hetman of Ukraine Ivan Vyhovskyi. The village of Ruda, Lviv region

The patriarch of the forests fits organically into human life and appears as a hero of Ukrainian ethnic culture.  

"Oh, on the hill two oaks, and doves are sitting on them".

 

An oak in the village of Ruda, Lviv region. According to legend, the hetman of Ukraine Ivan Vyhovskyi is buried here

The oak symbolises longevity, long life, power, strength, wisdom, faithfulness, nobility.

Lviv. The oak at 19 Enerhetychna Street. The oak is 150-200 years old

In tales and poems the giant tree appears as an adviser, a defender, a talisman. 

"Oh, on the hill two little oaks, two little oaks. And they have grown together".

The oak of Ivan Franko. The village of Lysiatychi, Lviv region

The oak is present in every situation in life and embodies human feelings.

"As oak outwits oak, so brother questions sister".

An oak, height 16 m, age 200 years. The Oleksandriia arboretum, Bila Tserkva, Kyiv region 

A leaning oak means sorrow, loss, parting.

"Do not bend down, oak, you green ravine".

 

An oak in a shelterbelt. The village of Vesele, Donetsk region 

Back in pagan times it was forbidden to hunt and to fell trees in oak forests; they were considered a place where the gods lived.

An oak from 1895. The Suderman estate. Zelene, Donetsk region

Under the regal tree the popular assembly and the council of elders would gather, and fateful decisions were taken.

 

An oak shelterbelt

In the shade of the green canopy poets drew inspiration, lovers arranged their meetings, warriors rested after battle.

 

An oak shelterbelt

In times past there was a custom: at the birth of a son to plant a little oak by the house as a sign of might, power and valour.

 

Oaks planted in honour of the sons on the Bantysh estate in the village of Prelesne, Donetsk region

Since ancient times people have used oak logs in building defensive works and dwellings. The tannins counteract rot, and oak soaked in water, so-called bog oak, is especially prized in the joiner's craft.

 

The oaks in the town of Pryluky, Chernihiv region, have protection plates

Oak wood was used in making furniture, vessels and household objects. Tannins for dressing hides and a beautiful colour for dyeing are produced from oak bark and leaves.

 

An oak. Sviatohirsk, Donetsk region. The Sviati Hory national park

In the years of famine acorns were soaked in water to remove the bitterness, then ground, and bread was baked from the flour. Lovers of invigorating drinks make coffee from roasted acorns.

 

The acorn - the fruit of the oak

The healer tree helps to preserve health, and the astringent and styptic properties of the bark are used in folk medicine. In the old days, so that a person would have clarity of thought, they were advised to stand a while by an oak.

 

A shelterbelt of oaks

In Ukraine the red oak is widespread, reaching 25 m in height. In the first years the young saplings do not gain height so quickly, but they spread out with their roots. Having strengthened its root system, the plant puts out new shoots and offshoots, which then turn into the long-lived branches of a lush crown. Resistant to frost, drought, pests and disease, the oak makes up a quarter of forest plantings.

 

The oak "Master of the Great Glade". Age 300 years. Height 23 m. The Oleksandriia arboretum 

On average the green giant lives 200-400 years; some long-lived specimens of 500 years are met with, and the record-holders have passed the 700-year mark. The centuries-old elders need protection from their trunks splitting and their branches breaking off. If a tree has 2 or more trunks, cracks often form between them.

Damaged branches and trunks of oaks

A forest in which oak plantings predominate is called a dibrova. The most valuable oak massifs have been recognised as reserves or protected tracts.

 

A reserve that contains oaks more than 100 years old. Morshyn, Lviv region

But trees that have no protected status also deserve careful treatment. In the Mezhova district of the Dnipropetrovsk region a model oak shelterbelt 500 metres long has the status of a natural monument.

 

A model shelterbelt. Mezhova district, Dnipropetrovsk region

Sadly, cases of felling this beautiful and valuable tree are not rare, and, judging by publications in the media, the oak-cutters bear no punishment. In tsarist times special protective decrees were issued regarding oak forests, and harsh measures were taken against offenders, up to the death penalty.

"Why is the oak green? Because the water is near".

 

An oak on the grounds of the school in the village of Ruda, Lviv region

In the all-Ukrainian competition "National Tree of Ukraine" champion oaks took 1st to 3rd places among the historic, memorial, aesthetic and oldest trees of our country.