The Oak at the South-East Entrance of Vosseparkje

The national register cannot decide what this tree is. Its entry reads Caucasian/Persian oak, with a slash doing the work that a species name usually does, and there is nothing else in the file: the site history field says unknown. Both candidates behind that slash are eastern trees standing a long way outside their range. Quercus macranthera comes from the Caucasus and carries big lobed leaves with felt on the underside. Quercus castaneifolia comes from the same mountains and from northern Iran, and its leaves look like a sweet chestnut's, long and edged with sharp teeth. Whichever of the two this is, it is not one of the oaks native to the Netherlands. It is the oldest of the seven registered trees in this park. The planting band, 1870 to 1880, overlaps the years Gerrit Vlaskamp was landscaping the reservoir grounds that became the Vosseparkje in 1872, though nothing on record says the oak went in with that work. It has held the south-east entrance ever since, which means most people who use this park walk straight past it on their way to look at something else. We would rather ask than guess. If you can read an oak leaf, go and settle which of the two it is, and tell us.