Legend of the King's Oak

…The general English name for trees in the Quercus genus of the Fagaceae family. The Quercus genus consists of about 400 species, distributed mainly in the temperate and tropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere. They are usually divided into two subgenuses, Quercus and Cyclobalanopsis , but sometimes each is considered to be an independent genera. The main difference between the two is that Quercus species are distributed mainly in the temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere, are mostly deciduous trees, and have a scaly surface for the cupule (the cup-shaped involucre that encases the seed, or the base of the acorn), whereas Quercus species are distributed mainly in the tropical and warm temperate regions of Asia, are all evergreen, and have a ring-layered surface for the cupule. …

*Some of the terminology referenced in "The Legend of the King's Orc" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…ブナ科コナラ属Quercusの樹木の総称的英名。コナラ属は約400種の樹木からなり，主として北半球の温帯から熱帯に分布する。ふつうはコナラ亜属Subgen.Quercusとアカガシ亜属Subgen.Cyclobalanopsisに二大別されるが，それぞれが独立の属と考えられる場合もある。両者のおもな違いを述べると，コナラ亜属の樹種は北半球の温帯を中心に分布し，多くは落葉樹で，果実の殻斗(種子，いわゆるどんぐりの基部を包んでいる椀状の総苞)の表面がうろこ状であるのに対し，アカガシ亜属の樹種はおもにアジアの熱帯から暖温帯に分布し，すべて常緑で，殻斗の表面は輪層状をなしている。…

※「王のオーク伝説」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報