Quercus ilex L.
holm oak
Large evergreen tree (to c. 25 m tall in cultivation); bark rough and fissured. Shoots and buds grey-tomentose, without surrounding stipules. Petioles 5-15 mm long, grey-tomentose. Stipules subulate. Lamina 3-8 × 1.5-3.5 cm, usually ovate-oblong or ovate-lanceolate, less commonly broad-elliptic, coriaceous, entire or sometimes spinulose-dentate (lvs of juvenile and vegetative shoots often spinulose-dentate), deep shining green and glabrous above, usually grey- or whitish tomentulose beneath; base broad-cuneate or rounded. ♂ catkins 1.5-2.5 cm long, clustered; rachis villous; bracts densely silky; fls dense along rachis; perianth 1-1.5 mm long, villous outside; stamens 4-8. Frs in clusters of 1-3 fertile ones on a short tomentose peduncle, reaching maturity in first year. Cup 1.3-2 cm diam.; scales appressed, ovate, tomentulose. Acorns mostly 1.5-2 cm long, ovoid, ⅓-⅔ enclosed by cup.
N.: Auckland City area, Rangitoto Id; S.: Quail Id (Banks Peninsula).
Mediterranean region 1983
Indigenous forest, cliff top scrub.
FL Sep-Nov.
Holm oak is commonly cultivated in N.Z., particularly in parks, domains and large estates. There is considerable variation in cultivation. On juvenile and vegetative shoots the lvs sometimes appear holly-like but on adult branches of the form usually grown in N.Z. they are nearly always entire. Q. ilex is the only evergreen oak commonly grown but, in some North Id localities in particular, the somewhat similar Q. suber L., cork oak, is cultivated; it is immediately recognisable by the rather soft, thick, pale, corky bark as opposed to the hard, grey bark of the holm oak.
