Oak ordinary – oak wild (harvesting and storage)

Oak ordinary – Quercus robur L. Ukrainian name – oak zvichayny.

 

Beech family – Fagaceae.

For medicinal purposes, the bark and fruits are used.

It occurs throughout Ukraine and is the main forest-forming species, especially in the forest-steppe and in the north of the steppe regions. It forms pure oak or, more often, mixed with other species (hornbeam, beech, ash, maples, linden, pine, elm, aspen, etc.) forests on watersheds, slopes of gullies and river valleys, in floodplains and on second river terraces. The area of ​​forests with oak is hundreds of thousands of hectares. In the Carpathians it grows at an altitude of 660-600 m, in the Crimea more often on the northern slopes of the mountains. It is the main species in forest plantations in the forest-steppe and in the north of the steppe regions.

Stocks of raw materials are very large. Hundreds of tons of bark can be harvested annually, and in Harvest years, which occur once every few years, the same number of fruits. The main blanks are produced during thinning in Ivano-Frankivsk, Lvov, Rivne, Chernivtsi, Ternopil, Khmelnytsky, Vinnitsa, Cherkasy, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Poltava, Sumy, Kharkiv, Donetsk regions. The average annual harvesting of oak bark in the republic for three years (1974-1976) amounted to 453 g.

The common oak is a tree with a dense crown, up to 35-40 l high and a trunk thickness up to 1-1.5 m. The bark of young branches is smooth, brown-gray, with transversely elongated lenticels, after 10-15 years it cracks. In old trees, it is thick, deeply fissured, brown-gray. The leaves are alternate, short-petiolate, oblong-obovate, heart-shaped at the base, 4-6-lobed, entire, shiny above, green, glabrous, below -lighter, first pubescent, later glabrous. Male flowers in long drooping greenish-yellow catkins, female flowers are reddish, one or more on short pedicels. The fruits are acorns 1.5-3.5 cm long in a cupule. Oak blossoms in the second half of April – the first half of May. The fruits ripen in September.

There are two forms – summer and winter. In the first, the leaves bloom in April and fall off for the winter, in the second, they bloom 2-3 weeks later (in May), and in young specimens signs of sweet clover species remain for the winter.

Raw materials can also be harvested from other types of oak, found in Ukraine in the wild (rocky and fluffy) and cultivated. An unacceptable impurity in the raw material is the bark of a slender ash tree, which has an ash-gray bark with lentils on young branches.

The bark is prepared from young branches without cracks and lichens during the movement of juices (April-May) in cutting areas or during thinning. To remove the bark with a knife, make circular cuts at a distance of 30 cm from one another, which are connected by a longitudinal incision. After that, the bark is easily removed.

Dry it under canopies with good ventilation. The yield of dry raw materials is 40-50%.

According to GF-X Art. 184, OST 4287 raw material consists of tubular or grooved pieces of bark with a thickness of 3 mm, shiny or slightly wrinkled on the outside, light brown in color, with transversely elongated lenticels, inside yellowish or reddish brown. At the break, the outer layer of the bark is granular, the inner one is fibrous. Dry bark does not smell, but when soaked, a peculiar smell appears. The taste is slightly tart, bitter. Humidity is not higher than 15%. No more than (percent) is allowed in raw materials: pieces of old bark (thicker than 6 mm) – 5, darkened bark – 5, short pieces of bark (shorter than 3 cm) – 3, organic (bark of other trees) and mineral impurities – 1 each.

The total ash content must not exceed 6%.

Dry bark is packed in bales of 100 kg. Store in dry, well-ventilated areas. Storage period up to 5 years. Raw materials are not subject to re-control.

Fruits (acorns) are harvested during maturation under the trees.

Dry in attics under an iron roof or under sheds with good ventilation, spreading in one layer on paper or fabric and systematically mixing. They are traditionally dried in ovens or dryers. Then they are cleaned from the shell and seed peel.

According to OST 4397, the raw material consists of individual cotyledons 1.5–2 cm long and 7–12 mm thick, ovate-elongated, light or dark brown in color. There is no smell. The taste is sweetish, then bitter-tart. Humidity is not higher than 11%. In raw materials, not more than 2% of unpeeled fruits or parts within the fruit, 2% of crushed parts (passing through a sieve with a hole diameter of 3 mm), 0.5% of mineral impurities are allowed.

The total ash content must not exceed 3%.

Raw materials are packed in 60 kg bags. Store in dry, well-ventilated areas. The retention period has not been set.

The bark contains tannins of the pyrogallic group, ellagic and gallic acids, the fruits contain starch (up to 20%), tannins, fats, and sugar. The bark is used as an astringent for inflammatory diseases of the oral cavity, pharynx, throat, and for the treatment of burns. Widely used in the leather industry. The fruits are used as a coffee substitute.