The Cork Oak Explained

Quercus suber is the cork oak, a medium-sized evergreen native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa.

It grows 10 to 15 metres tall with a trunk diameter of 50 to 100 centimetres.

Once it reaches 25 years old, its bark can be harvested every 9 to 12 years. Most mortgages don't involve stripping the house naked.

Cork seals wine bottles and forms cricket ball cores. Since other materials displace cork, forests are at risk.

The tree enters mycorrhizal symbiosis with fungi like Amanita caesarea and Boletus edulis. Fungi make surprisingly expensive tenants.

Its thick insulating bark makes it a pyrophyte adapted to forest fires. After a fire, it regrows branches.

Its thick bark insulates against forest fires.

In Portugal, natural and cultivated stands cover 750,000 ha. You would need a lot of coasters.