Acorn-Bearing Sawtooth Oak, Nature’s Frontline Soldier in the Fight Against Climate Change with Top Greenhouse Gas Absorption (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 4 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s National Park Service has named the sawtooth oak as the country’s most effective native tree for carbon absorption, ahead of Arbor Day this weekend. However, despite its environmental value, the tree’s practical applications remain surprisingly limited.
According to data released Friday, the sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima) absorbs an average of 30.12 kilograms of carbon dioxide annually—more than four times the average of 84 native species surveyed.
To offset the annual per capita greenhouse gas emissions in South Korea, which stood at 14 metric tons in 2024, one would need to plant 465 sawtooth oaks.
Following the sawtooth oak in carbon absorption are the Amur maackia (21.51 kg), Korean red pine (20.07 kg), oriental oak (20.04 kg), and ash tree (19.01 kg), all native species found in South Korea’s mountainous regions and national parks.
While the sawtooth oak thrives on village hillsides and produces acorns used in traditional Korean dishes like acorn jelly and rice cakes, its wood is regarded as largely impractical.
Unlike other oaks prized for their strength and durability, the sawtooth oak’s timber absorbs moisture easily, decays quickly, and is too soft for furniture or structural use. Even as charcoal, it holds some value, but its tendency to split has relegated it mostly to simple fencing material.
In historical context, the sawtooth oak has even come to symbolize uselessness, mentioned in the old Chinese idiom joryokjjijae, meaning “wood of no worth.”
Though often dismissed as a tree of little use, the sawtooth oak bears fruit that people continually seek.
The problem is that few are willing to wait until the acorns ripen and fall naturally.
Instead, once the acorns begin to mature, people strike the trees with sticks and stones to force the fruit down.
It’s a method adopted out of necessity—an attempt to gather just a few more acorns than others—but one that leaves the sawtooth oak with lasting wounds.
In the end, the tree’s deep and visible scars are marks of human impatience.
And yet, despite those injuries and pain, the sawtooth oak stands silent, quietly doing its part each day to combat global warming.
Still, its ecological utility is now coming into sharper focus, as climate concerns push carbon offset strategies to the forefront of national policy discussions. The Park Service began studying tree-based carbon sequestration in 2023 and plans to expand its monitoring efforts through 2026.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
