Bluejack Oak
Genus: Quercus
Botanical name: Quercus incana
PLANT NAME IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES
Sanskrit:
Hindi: Banj
English: Bluejack oak, Upland willow oak, Sandjack oak
Malayalam: Vellaokke
MEDICINAL PROPERTIES
Bluejack oak is a tree growing to about 10 meters in height, with a maximum height around 15 meters. The “national champion bluejack” was a specimen from Texas that was 15.5 meters (51 feet) tall and 2.1 meters (7 feet) in circumference, and had a crown spread of 17 meters (56 feet). The trunk is short and the crooked branches form an open, irregular crown. The platy bark is dark brown or black. The leaves are generally oval and up to 10 centimetres long by 3.5 wide. They are glossy green on top and woolly-haired underneath. The acorn is up to 1.7 centimetres long by 1.6 wide, not counting the cap. The oak reproduces by seed and by reporting from the root crown when the upper parts are removed. It can form thickets by spreading underground runners.
The acorns are used in indigenous medicine as diuretic and in gonorrhoea and also as an astringent, and also as an astringent, in indigestion and diarrhoea, especially of children.