San Mateo Park

San Mateo Park Bark

As you drive around San Mateo Park, you enjoy the magnificent trees that were planted here at the turn of the century.  One interesting species is Quercus suber, a member of the Oak family.  You have to actually get out of your car and touch the bark to see what this tree is all about!  The Quercus suber, more commonly known as the Cork Oak, is the origin of Cork.

When you study the thick soft bark of this tree, the bark is actually cork.  These trees are native to the Mediterranean countries, but have been planted from Maryland to California, and thrive in semi-dry conditions.  To produce cork, this bark is stripped every 10 to 20 years on the lower section of the tree.  The inner living bark is not harmed, and one tree can yield over 1,000 pounds of cork in a single crop.  The first and second stripping of a tree gives mediocre quality cork; every subsequent stripping then produces a higher quality product.

The first cork acorns were sent to the United States from France by Thomas Jefferson in 1787, but it was not until 1858 that interest in these majestic trees increased.  In the following years, many acorns were imported from Spain and distributed in the South and in California.  About 600 trees were planted at Chico by the University of California in 1904.

Cork oaks are slow growing and extremely long-lived; some trees in Europe are over 500 years old.  They may range from 60 to 100 feet in height, and have massive branches forming a round-top In attendance were long-time resicrown.  They are evergreen with rich green dents of San Mateo Park, Gladys Pattis and shiny leaves with grayish undersides.

Go visit out Cork Oak island on Warren between Hurlingham and Crescent.  You can also find a lovely stand of these oaks on the north side of Bellevue Avenue on the second block from El Camino.

More Tree Info. and Lore…

Southern Magnolias
Some of these magnificent trees in the Park could do with some TLC.  S. Magnolias do not like compacted soil, and they do better with some watering during the summer. Over-watering, such as occurs when lawn sprinklers are the water source, can kill them though.  Understory planting helps with the soil compaction problem by keeping foot traffic out, but keep grass away from the trunks.  Finally, these trees have roots very close to the surface.  Landscaping projects that scrape or turn the soil around them too much (such as installing a new lawn) are likely to send your tree into slow but obvious decline and death.  If you have a prized or heritage Southern Magnolia, consider consulting a qualified arborist before embarking on projects in its vicinity. 

Cork Oaks

As you walk around the Park enjoying the magnificent trees that were planted here at the beginning of the last century, notice the Quercus suber, a member of the Oak family.   These trees are native to Mediterranean countries, but have been planted here from Maryland to California.   They thrive in semi-dry conditions.  More commonly known as the Cork Oak, the tree’s bark needs to be touched if you want to see what this tree is all about. 

The thick, soft, outer bark of this tree is actually cork.  To produce cork, the bark is stripped every 10 to 20 years on the lower section of the tree.  The inner, living bark is not harmed, and one tree can yield over 1,000 lbs. of cork in a single crop.  The first and second stripping of a tree give mediocre quality cork; subsequent strippings produce a higher quality product.  (Don’t even think of taking a sample – even a small one - from our trees!  If not done properly, living tissue easily can be damaged, killing limbs or even the whole tree.)

Thomas Jefferson sent the first cork acorns to the United States from France in 1787, but it was not until 1858 that interest in these majestic trees took root.  In the following years, many acorns were imported from Spain and distributed throughout the South and in California.  About 600 trees were planted at Chico by the University of California in 1904.

Cork oaks are slow growing and extremely long-lived: some trees in Europe are over 500 years old.  They may range from 60 to 100 feet in height, and have massive branches forming a round crown.  They are evergreen with rich green, shiny leaves that have grayish undersides.

Mature cork oak islands can be found on the first block of West Bellevue and on Warren between Hurlingham and Crescent.  Our newest cork oak island is on West Poplar between Hurlingham and Crescent.  This one was planted (for the generations!) when sustained freezing weather killed all the frost-susceptible silk oaks that were on this island.