The Mediterranean Summer festival at Kew ran during the summer of
2007. Cork Oak
Quercus suber
Cork Oak
Cork Oak forest covers an area of around 2.7 million hectares across much of the Mediterranean.
It provides an income for thousands of people and a habitat for many plants and animals, some of which are highly endangered, such as the Iberian Lynx and Bonelli's Eagle. The farming of Cork Oak is one of the best examples of traditional sustainable land use.
The corks we know from wine bottles are made from the bark of the Cork Oak, which is stripped from the tree every ten years. Each tree can produce enough material for 4,000 wine corks. This is all possible because the Cork Oak can regenerate its spongy bark and can be stripped on a regular cycle, until it is around 200 years old, without any harm to the tree.
Cork has been used for hundreds of years. Ancient Greeks used it for stoppers in olive and wine jars, while the Romans also used it in beehives. Today, Cork Oaks continue to be grown in a mosaic of groves alongside other plants and farm animals such as pigs, in a type of forest farming known as dehesa. The pigs love foraging for acorns and produce a highly valued ham.
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