Kermes oak
Quercus coccifera
Family · Fagaceae · Harmless
The oak that gave up on being a tree. A low, tough, spiny shrub dominating the limestone of the centre and south, surviving fire, goats and drought without complaint.
Where it grows
Scrubland · Montado · Uplands
Also known askermes oak
In flower
In fruit
How to tell it
A small, hard leaf, glossy green on both sides, with a spiny margin like a miniature holly. The acorn cup is covered in outward-curving scales.
What it is confused with
Holm oak
Quercus rotundifolia
Turn the leaf over: holm oak is grey-white beneath, kermes oak is glossy green on both sides. And kermes oak hardly ever gets beyond shrub size.
Open sheet →What it is for
Firewood and charcoal, and for centuries host to the insect from which kermes crimson was extracted, one of medieval Europe's costliest reds. Hence coccifera.