Aciñeira (Galician) | Azinheira (Portuguese) | Holm oak (Spanish) | Encina(French)
The Holm oak is a tree of variable heights, a dense crown and a dark and thick trunk.
Its leaves are persistent, alternate, a dark green upper side and underside covered in a dense whitish layer of tomentum or woolly down giving it a velvety aspect.
The flowers blossom in spring clustered in hanging branches (catkins) of a yellow-ochre colour, its fruit (acorns) can be either sweet or bitter.
The Holm oak is the species most typically found in the Mediterranean forests, it is unconcerned as to the type of soil it lives in, growing from sea level to a height of 1300-1400 m, while in exceptional cases reaching a height of 2000 m.
The sub-species Ilexoccurs in humid climatic zones, temperate and coastal without extending inland, preferring a more calcareous ground. Even though they create pure groves, these Holm oak woodlands are richer because they contain other companion species.
Quercus was actually the Roman name given to oaks in general, for their wood, the name extending to all trees that produce acorns. The origin of the word itself is Celtic meaning beautiful tree. The epithet ilex was also a name given by the Romans for the Holm oak. In the case of the acorn, this was derived from Arabic, which is the name for the Holm oak and in Spanish is used for the fruit of all the species of the genus.
