Quercus ilex

🌳 Quercus ilex – Holm Oak
📏 Height: 10–20 m | 🌿 Leathery leaves, dark green above, gray-silver underneath
🌳 Dense, rounded, evergreen crown
🌍 Origin
🌍 Mediterranean Basin: 🇮🇹 🇪🇸 🇫🇷 🇬🇷 🇹🇷
📍 Ideal for
🏡 Parks, avenues, Mediterranean woodlands, rustic gardens
🛡 Hardy and well-suited to poor soils, extreme exposures, and drought
🌼 Flowering
📅 Spring (April–May)
🌾 Inconspicuous flowers; male ones form yellow catkins
🌰 Fruiting
📅 Autumn
🌰 Long, oval acorns, edible for wildlife 🐿️
💧 Tolerance
🌞 Full sun or partial shade | 🌵 Excellent drought resistance
❄️ Cold-hardy to –15 °C | 🌬 Withstands wind and salinity
🪴 Thrives in calcareous, clay, or stony soils
🧰 Care
✂️ Requires little pruning
🌱 Slow-growing but extremely long-lived (over 1000 years)
🛡 A symbolic tree of the Mediterranean scrub and resilience