This ~8-10m tall oak tree is growing alone at the side of a sports reserve in Whittlesea, Melbourne, Australia. According to a neighbour, it was planted around 30 years or so ago.
My family and I recognise it as an oak tree, but we are uncertain as to the species and origin (European or American) of the tree.
These photos were taken on 2025/11/22:
What is the species of this oak tree?
This is a photo of some old acorns from the leaf litter:
This is Quercus robur, the Pedunculate oak,often known as the English Oak, but is native to Europe and parts of Western Asia. English oaks are quite common in countries colonized by Britain
The reason I say this is that the leaves have rounded lobes that occasionally deeply divided; for the most part the are relatively shallow. The American Oak (Quercus alba, AKA White oak) has lobes with deep divisions. Compare the two photos below. English oak at the top and American oak at the bottom. Note the deep divisions in the lobes on American oak that reach most of the way to the mid-rib in almost all cases, whereas the English oak only has this happen infrequently.
The American origin oak species (of which there are many) tend to have deep divisions and/or a sharper point on the lobes.
Pedunculate (English) Oak leaves:
Image attribution: Bjoertvedt, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
White (American) Oak leaves:
Image attribution: Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In response to comment - Q. pubescens AKA Downy oak, Italian oak, has very similar leaves, however, the leaves and stems are covered in minute hairs, giving them an overall silvered appearance, for which I see no evidence here:
Downy oak:
Image attribution: Franz Xaver, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Two other possibilities are The Mossycup oak/Burr oak (Q. macrocarpa) and French oak/Sessile oak (Q. petraea). Burr oak, is quite similar to White oak in having deeply divided leaves. French oak is the most likely competitor, but it has longer stalked leaves and the divisions tend to be more regular/even in spacing and shape than in English oak:
French oak
Image attribution: Nikanos This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.
A third possibility is that this is a hybrid between French and English oaks (Quercus x rosacea), which shows intermediate characteristics between French and English oaks
