Driven Round the Bend by Bender's Oak at Kew

A postscript to the Hybrid Highlight article on Quercus ×benderi

It is a crisp and sunny early autumn morning on one of our very infrequent visits to London. To make the most of the fine weather I drag (fairly willingly) Marie, my wife, and Mike, my brother-in-law, to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to see the Quercus ×benderi that had been photographed by James MacEwen.

At the entrance we are met by one of the many volunteers, who asks if she can help us in any way. Almost apologetically I say that, well, yes, we would like to see the Bender’s oak, if anyone can tell us where it is. The look of consternation on her face is brief and well managed, and she suggests that we could either go to the information desk, or search online or, better still, talk to her colleague over here who is a fount of wisdom and knows everything. We approach said colleague and ask if he knows the location of the Bender’s oak. This time the look of consternation is not quite so well managed. There is much tapping of a keyboard and furrowing of brow, until he asks, “Was it Quercus robur you were interested in?”

Sensing that this could take some time, I point out that no, it was Q. ×benderi that we were after. More furrowing of brow and tapping of keyboard until: “Quercus is oak, isn’t it?” I thank him profusely and back away. At the proper information desk, fighting a dawning sense of foreboding, I repeat my request for the location of Q. ×benderi. This time the reaction is very different and, indeed, I get the sense that I have just made this man’s day. There is puckering of lips, consulting of databases and writing down of co-ordinates until, with a flourish, he marks up a map and hands it to me. What a nice man.

We head off. I had assumed that there would be a cross on the map but no, I realize that he has drawn two elongated ellipses, one of which surrounds the area listed as The Oak Collection, and the other of which doesn’t. Oh well. We arrive among oaks and are instantly happy. Among the many riches, I spot two that I know by name but have never seen before: Hill’s oak, Q. ellipsoidalis, and Armenian oak, Q. pontica. Marie in particular has the bit between her teeth and examines every label on every oak she sees. In vain. Search as we might, we can’t find Q. ×benderi. Close to exhaustion the three of us flop down on a bench and a passing woman stops to tell us how happy we look.

As we limp slowly towards the exit, we pass scores of people who all exude that sense of well-being that comes from being at peace amongst trees. We didn’t find Bender’s oak, but our day at Kew was a great success.