Quercus virgiliana
Oak of Virgil

Andrea Moro/Dryades
Amadej Trnkoczy/Flickr
Amadej Trnkoczy/Flickr

The oak of Virgil (Quercus virgiliana) is a medium-sized deciduous tree closely related to downy oak (Quercus pubescens) and often found crossbreeding with other oak species. Their distributions overlap, but the oak of Virgil has a more restricted distribution than downy oak (Fortini et al., 2022). Oak of Virgil can be found in arid forests but prefers full sun and moist, well-drained loamy soils, growing at elevations from sea level up to 1 200 m. It could become an important species due to its high adaptability in the face of climate change. Oak of Virgil is native to certain regions in Europe, including south-eastern Europe and northern Türkiye, but its full distribution is unclear because identification can be difficult. However, its presence has been confirmed in central-southern Italy, where it dominates, while downy oak dominates in northern Italy (Viscosi, Fortini, and D’Imperio, 2011).

Oak of Virgil grows slowly, living up to 1 000 years, giving it durable wood, which can be used in construction. The acorns of oak of Virgil, like those of other oak species, can be used as food for wildlife and humans or as fodder, such as for pigs.

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Acknowledgements

This distribution map has been developed by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (partly based on the EUFORGEN map) and released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0)

Caudullo, G., Welk, E., San-Miguel-Ayanz, J., 2017. Chorological maps for the main European woody species. Data in Brief 12, 662-666. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2017.05.007

The following experts have contributed to the development of the EUFORGEN distribution maps:

Fazia Krouchi (Algeria), Hasmik Ghalachyan (Armenia), Thomas Geburek (Austria), Berthold Heinze (Austria), Rudi Litschauer (Austria), Rudolf Litschauer (Austria), Michael Mengl (Austria), Ferdinand Müller (Austria), Franz Starlinger (Austria), Valida Ali-zade (Azerbaijan), Vahid Djalal Hajiyev (Azerbaijan), Karen Cox (Belgium), Bart De Cuyper (Belgium), Olivier Desteucq (Belgium), Patrick Mertens (Belgium), Jos Van Slycken (Belgium), An Vanden Broeck (Belgium), Kristine Vander Mijnsbrugge (Belgium), Dalibor Ballian (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Alexander H. Alexandrov (Bulgaria), Alexander Delkov (Bulgaria), Ivanova Denitsa Pandeva (Bulgaria), Peter Zhelev Stoyanov (Bulgaria), Joso Gracan (Croatia), Marilena Idzojtic (Croatia), Mladen Ivankovic (Croatia), Željka Ivanović (Croatia), Davorin Kajba (Croatia), Hrvoje Marjanovic (Croatia), Sanja Peric (Croatia), Andreas Christou (Cyprus), Xenophon Hadjikyriacou (Cyprus), Václav Buriánek (Czech Republic), Jan Chládek (Czech Republic), Josef Frýdl (Czech Republic), Petr Novotný (Czech Republic), Martin Slovacek (Czech Republic), Zdenek Špišek (Czech Republic), Karel Vancura (Czech Republic), Ulrik Bräuner (Denmark), Bjerne Ditlevsen (Denmark), Jon Kehlet Hansen (Denmark), Jan Svejgaard Jensen (Denmark), Kalev Jðgiste (Estonia), Tiit Maaten (Estonia), Raul Pihu (Estonia), Ülo Tamm (Estonia), Arvo Tullus (Estonia), Aivo Vares (Estonia), Teijo Nikkanen (Finland), Sanna Paanukoski (Finland), Mari Rusanen (Finland), Pekka Vakkari (Finland), Leena Yrjänä (Finland), Daniel Cambon (France), Eric Collin (France), Alexis Ducousso (France), Bruno Fady (France), François Lefèvre (France), Brigitte Musch (France), Sylvie Oddou-Muratorio (France), Luc E. Pâques (France), Julien Saudubray (France), Marc Villar (France), Vlatko Andonovski (FYR Macedonia), Dragi Pop-Stojanov (FYR Macedonia), Merab Machavariani (Georgia), Irina Tvauri (Georgia), Alexander Urushadze (Georgia), Bernd Degen (Germany), Jochen Kleinschmit (Germany), Armin König (Germany), Armin König (Germany), Volker Schneck (Germany), Richard Stephan (Germany), H. H. Kausch-Blecken Von Schmeling (Germany), Georg von Wühlisch (Germany), Iris Wagner (Germany), Heino Wolf (Germany), Paraskevi Alizoti (Greece), Filippos Aravanopoulos (Greece), Andreas Drouzas (Greece), Despina Paitaridou (Greece), Aristotelis C. Papageorgiou (Greece), Kostas Thanos (Greece), Sándor Bordács (Hungary), Csaba Mátyás (Hungary), László Nagy (Hungary), Thröstur Eysteinsson (Iceland), Adalsteinn Sigurgeirsson (Iceland), Halldór Sverrisson (Iceland), John Fennessy (Ireland), Ellen O'Connor (Ireland), Fulvio Ducci (Italy), Silvia Fineschi (Italy), Bartolomeo Schirone (Italy), Marco Cosimo Simeone (Italy), Giovanni Giuseppe Vendramin (Italy), Lorenzo Vietto (Italy), Janis Birgelis (Latvia), Virgilijus Baliuckas (Lithuania), Kestutis Cesnavicius (Lithuania), Darius Danusevicius (Lithuania), Valmantas Kundrotas (Lithuania), Alfas Pliûra (Lithuania), Darius Raudonius (Lithuania), Robert du Fays (Luxembourg), Myriam Heuertz (Luxembourg), Claude Parini (Luxembourg), Fred Trossen (Luxembourg), Frank Wolter (Luxembourg), Joseph Buhagiar (Malta), Eman Calleja (Malta), Ion Palancean (Moldova), Dragos Postolache (Moldova), Gheorghe Postolache (Moldova), Hassan Sbay (Morocco), Tor Myking (Norway), Tore Skrøppa (Norway), Anna Gugala (Poland), Jan Kowalczyk (Poland), Czeslaw Koziol (Poland), Jan Matras (Poland), Zbigniew Sobierajski (Poland), Maria Helena Almeida (Portugal), Filipe Costa e Silva (Portugal), Luís Reis (Portugal), Maria Carolina Varela (Portugal), Ioan Blada (Romania), Alexandru-Lucian Curtu (Romania), Lucian Dinca (Romania), Georgeta Mihai (Romania), Mihai Olaru (Romania), Gheorghe Parnuta (Romania), Natalia Demidova (Russian Federation), Mikhail V. Pridnya (Russian Federation), Andrey Prokazin (Russian Federation), Srdjan Bojovic (Serbia) , Vasilije Isajev (Serbia), Saša Orlovic (Serbia), Rudolf Bruchánik (Slovakia), Roman Longauer (Slovakia), Ladislav Paule (Slovakia), Gregor Bozič (Slovenia), Robert Brus (Slovenia), Katarina Celič (Slovenia), Hojka Kraigher (Slovenia), Andrej Verlič (Slovenia), Marjana Westergren (Slovenia), Ricardo Alía (Spain), Josefa Fernández-López (Spain), Luis Gil Sanchez (Spain), Pablo Gonzalez Goicoechea (Spain), Santiago C. González-Martínez (Spain), Sonia Martin Albertos (Spain), Eduardo Notivol Paino (Spain), María Arantxa Prada (Spain), Alvaro Soto de Viana (Spain), Lennart Ackzell (Sweden), Jonas Bergquist (Sweden), Sanna Black-Samuelsson (Sweden), Jonas Cedergren (Sweden), Gösta Eriksson (Sweden), Markus Bolliger (Switzerland), Felix Gugerli (Switzerland), Rolf Holderegger (Switzerland), Peter Rotach (Switzerland), Marcus Ulber (Switzerland), Sven M.G. de Vries (The Netherlands), Khouja Mohamed Larbi (Tunisia), Murat Alan (Turkey), Gaye Kandemir (Turkey), Gursel Karagöz (Turkey), Zeki Kaya (Turkey), Hasan Özer (Turkey), Hacer Semerci (Turkey), Ferit Toplu (Turkey), Mykola M. Vedmid (Ukraine), Roman T. Volosyanchuk (Ukraine), Stuart A'Hara (United Kingdom), Joan Cottrell (United Kingdom), Colin Edwards (United Kingdom), Michael Frankis (United Kingdom), Jason Hubert (United Kingdom), Karen Russell (United Kingdom), C.J.A. Samuel (United Kingdom).
 

Status of Quercus virgiliana conservation in Europe

Genetic summary

Oak of Virgil can adapt to a variety of environmental conditions, indicating high genetic diversity. However, populations are small and restricted and no in-depth research on the genetic diversity of the species has been done so far. Research has shown downy oak has higher genetic diversity than oak of Virgil; however, the two species share a lot of genetic variability and only limited populations of oak of Virgil were sampled (Enescu, Curtu, and Şofletea, 2013).

Oak of Virgil hybridizes easily. There is extensive gene flow among species of European white oaks, including downy oak, Dalechamps oak (Quercus dalechampii), and oak of Virgil and these species are evolving together (Viscosi, Fortini, and D'Imperio, 2011).

 

The bibliographic review was conducted by James Chaplin of the EUFORGEN Secretariat in August 2024.

Further relevant genetic traits

Interspecific taxa dynamics

The taxonomic definition of oak of Virgil is difficult. Some authorities consider it a distinct species, while others treat it as a hybrid or an intraspecific taxonomic unit of downy oak, while others do not recognize it as a taxon or infrataxon (Enescu, Curtu, and Şofletea, 2013). The difficulty in its recognition and taxonomic definition comes from its morphological similarities to downy oak, intermediate morphological forms between them, and the wide overlap in their distributions (Enescu, Curtu, and Şofletea, 2013). Identification is made more difficult by the species frequently hybridizing with one another and with other oak species.

Morphological surveys and genetic analysis may not support the contention that oak of Virgil is a distinct species but rather indicate that it is an intraspecific taxonomic unit of downy oak due to the low level of genetic divergence between them; however, divergence between these species is observed (Enescu, Curtu, and Şofletea, 2013; Fortini et al., 2022). Research that was unable to morphologically or genetically identify specimens of oak of Virgil and downy oak reliably also did not show that the species inhabit different altitudes or ecological environments (Fortini et al., 2022). It may be that oak of Virgil is a hybrid between downy oak and sessile oak (Quercus petraea) and/or English oak (Quercus robur) (Viscosi, Fortini, and D'Imperio, 2011). However, Italian populations of oak of Virgil have been identified and separated into clusters with significant morphological differentiation to downy oak (Viscosi, Fortini, and D'Imperio, 2011).

 

The bibliographic review was conducted by James Chaplin of the EUFORGEN Secretariat in August 2024.

Genetic conservation

Oak of Virgil could be important for forestry in the future to mitigate the effects of climate change due to its adaptation to more arid climates (Enescu, Curtu, and Şofletea, 2013). Management strategies might include preserving and restoring habitats, facilitating gene flow between fragmented populations through landscape connectivity, and potentially using assisted migration or seed banks to maintain or increase genetic diversity. However, oak of Virgil's status as a distinct species is unclear and there is limited research on its genetic diversity.

 

The bibliographic review was conducted by James Chaplin of the EUFORGEN Secretariat in August 2024.

Genetic Characterisation of Quercus virgiliana and its GCUs

Availability of FRM

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Related publications

Contacts of experts

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Further reading

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References

Enescu, C.M., Curtu, A.L., and Şofletea, N. 2013. Is Quercus virgiliana a distinct morphological and genetic entity among European white oaks? Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 37(5): 632–641.

Fortini, P., Di Marzio, P., Conte, A.L., Antonecchia, G., Proietti, E., and Di Pietro, R. 2022. Morphological and molecular results from a geographical transect focusing on Quercus pubescens/Q. virgiliana ecological–altitudinal vicariance in peninsular Italy. Plant Biosystems – An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology, 156(6): 1498–1511.

Viscosi, V., Fortini, P., and D'Imperio, M. 2011. A statistical approach to species identification on morphological traits of European white oaks: evidence of morphological structure in Italian populations of Quercus pubescens sensu lato. Acta Botanica Gallica, 158(2): 175–188.

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