4 things you might not know about oaks

■ The genus is Quercus which means ‘oak tree’ in Latin.

■ The oldest unequivocal records of Quercus date to the Eocene, around 45 million years ago – Homo sapiens didn’t turn up until 300,000 years ago.

■ Acorns are technically a fruit – in the wild, only one in 10,000 will germinate to become a tree.

■ People who love oaks are colloquially known as quercophiles.