Botanical name: Quercus leucotrichophora [=Q.

incana]
Common name: Banj Oak, Himalayan Oak
Family : Fagaceae

Most of us while walking around Mussoorie would have noticed a species of large densely
foliaged evergreen tree, having dark green leaves with silvery grey undersides. They occur in
fair numbers in our campus too and perhaps the best known individual among them would
be the tree growing on the steps leading to A.N.Jha plaza, the shade of which is a favourite
hangout point for many.

This tree is the Himalayan Oak, commonly called the Banj. We tend to think of oaks as
European species but India has 35 species of oaks of which 5 species grow in Uttarakhand.
Banj is possibly the most well-known among them and is found between 1000 to 2500 m in
the western and central Himalayas, its numbers peaking around 2000 m. The tree lay no
claim to showy extravagance when its comes to flowering – the flowers are greenish
and insconspicuous, the males in drooping clusters and solitary females in
leaf axils. They bloom from April to May and mature fruits called acorns are
seen in October-December. Natural regeneration happens via seeds.

These trees with moss-laden, fissured barks are long-living (some having lived up to 200
years and beyond) and is the most preferred tree for the hard-working Garhwali villager for
it is extensively used. The nutrient-rich leaves provide an animal fodder par excellence
(especially in winter when little else is available) and also bio-composts very well for use as a
fertilizer, the wood is the prime source of fuelwood (because of its high calorific value and
excellent burning properties), the timber though hard and strong is usually used
for agricultural implements and house poles, but is not particularly valuable
as it is hard to work. All through the water-stressed mountains in Garhwal, Banj is also
well-known for its water recharging and retention capability as its exhibits hydraulic lift, a
process wherein water absorbed by deep-rooted trees are released slowly to the upper
horizons of the soil. This makes banj oak forests valuable as a recharger of aquifiers and
springs and therefore is assiduously protected in sacred groves and van panchayat forests.

Further, the species forms the mainstay of the biodiversity-rich temperate forests of the
Garhwal Himalaya and affords home to numerous species of flora and fauna. Even single
oak trees are called home by a large number of creatures. The microclimatic conditions
provided by their shady foliage and fissured bark makes these trees a hotspot for epiphytes
– and this is easily observed during monsoons, when oaks are festooned with mosses,
lichens, ferns and orchids. Once, near a secluded glen below Benog, I counted nine species
on a single oak tree. On our campus, I have observed the acorns being fed upon by
mammals such as Common Langurs, and Rhesus Macaques. Falling acorns during night is a
sure shot indication that a Giant Flying Squirrel is up on an oak feeding, and the ground
beneath the tree will be littered with half-eaten acorns the next morning. The oak trees in
front of the dispensary is a hotspot for squirrels during the season. In fact, the acorns also
form a favourite food of the Himalayan Black Bear, and one has to be careful while trekking
alone through oak forests during the fruiting season. Among birds, oaks provide secure
nesting and feeding spots. I’ve seen Jays, Blue Magpies, Minivets and Grey-winged
Blackbirds nesting on them and Slaty-headed Parakeets and Black-throated Jay relishing the
acorns. Dead and dying oak trees offer crucial nesting and feeding habitats for the bark-
feeding guild of birds including woodpeckers, nuthatches and tree-creepers.

In short, the Himalayan oak is a keystone species for the temperate forests of the Western
Himalayas and it is for nothing that the sobriquet of ‘Kalpvriksh of the Himalaya’ is given to
it. I hope that many of you who will be posted in the western Himalayan states will take a
special interest in protecting and propagating this valuable and magnificent tree.