Quercus rotundifolia It is a species of evergreen and monoecious tree belonging to the Fagaceae family. Known as holm oak, holm oak, chaparra, continental oak, broad-leaved oak or sweet oak, it is a forest species native to the Mediterranean region.
It is a tree 8-15 m tall, with a fissured ashen bark trunk, with alternate, oblong-lanceolate and slightly pubescent leaves. Its male inflorescences are hanging catkins and the female ones are unique within an acrid involucre. The fruit is an achene partially covered by a dome.
The holm oak is a plant that develops in full sun exposure and tolerates hot environments, enduring large variations in temperature. It grows on dry soils, but is susceptible to waterlogging. Also adapts to basic and low nitrogen soils.
In general, rot-resistant, hard wood is used to make pieces with high physical labor such as plows, parquets and agricultural tools. In addition, it is an excellent raw material for obtaining high caloric charcoal..
Acorns are used as an animal feed supplement and are consumed by man as nuts or pastry flour. The bark has astringent properties, being used to treat hemorrhoids, chronic diarrhea and to cure internal bleeding.
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The 8-12 m tall tree, up to 15 m when adult, has a dense, wide and rounded crown. The bark is profusely cracked, being grayish in color. Young branches are horizontally erect and slightly tomentose.
The simple leaves are rounded or a little elongated, leathery, dark green on the upper surface and greyish on the underside due to their abundant hairs. The margins are whole, wavy or slightly toothed, with a short petiole 3-10 mm long.
The branches and buds present abundant hairs, the juvenile leaves are generally barbed-toothed. They differ from the oak Quercus ilex due to the presence of rounded leaves, with less than 8 veins and a smaller petiole (6 mm).
The male inflorescences are hanging yellowish catkins with tiny flowers formed by a solitary whorl of 3-7 pieces and various stamens. The solitary or paired female flowers are arranged on a tomentose pedicel and a six-lobed perianth that matures at two years.
The fruit is a sweet-tasting acorn with a short peduncle, which blooms from April-May and bears fruit from October-November. The dome that surrounds half of the acorns comes from the bracts that surround the flowers, being variable in size and shape.
- Kingdom: Plantae.
- Division: Magnoliophyta.
- Class: Magnolipside.
- Order: Fagales.
- Family: Fagaceae.
- Gender: Quercus.
- Species: Quercus rotundifolia.
Quercus rotundifolia grows on calcareous or siliceous soils, porous and well drained, even on saline or gypsum soils. Susceptible to flooding, it is highly resistant to droughts, high temperatures and occasional frosts.
It inhabits Mediterranean sclerophyllous forests and thickets, compact or pastures, in mixed associations and different substrates. It is located from sea level to 2,000 meters above sea level, in loose and deep soils.
This species is native to the western Mediterranean, distributed throughout northern Morocco, the entire Iberian Peninsula and southern France. In fact, it is located on the meso and supra-Mediterranean bioclimatic floors, occasionally thermomediterranean, as well as dry or subhumid ombrotypes with a semi-arid predominance..
In Spain it is located in a specific way in Galicia, through the Cantabrian coast and the mountains of Cartagena. In Moratalla in the Murcia region, the Rincón de los Huertos and the Sierra de Taibilla y Seca, as well as the Sierra de Mojantes and La Zarza in Caravaca.
Acorns Quercus rotundifolia they have a particular sweet or bitter taste due to the presence of tannins, fats and starches. Since ancient times, seeds from plants with sweet acorns have been selected to the detriment of bitter acorns..
Acorns from the Pedroches region in the province of Córdoba are famous for their size and aromatic flavor. These are used as food for human consumption, sweets or pastries, as well as a nutritional supplement for livestock.
In the holm oak, the presence of Istrian galls is common, formed by the deposition of eggs of the hymenoptera Cynips tinctoria var. Nostra. These galls are rounded tuberculous malformations that accumulate various tannins, such as gallic acid and tannic acid..
Indeed, these small pale-yellow, reddish-yellow and dark galls are used in the tanning industry. On the other hand, the bark rich in gallic, ellagic and cornicitanic acids is used by the Cordoba tanning industry.
The dense, heavy, hard and compact wood, as well as the white or rosy outer sapwood and the reddish inner heartwood are of great timber importance. It is used in the manufacture of tools, parquets and loom shuttles, due to its great resistance to humidity.
Likewise, the wood used as firewood provides a high calorific charcoal, widely used for charcoal. This process consists of placing several logs under fire and covering them with branches of esparto grass and earth, thus obtaining a product of higher caloric quality..
In the Extremadura region (Spain) and certain regions of Portugal, holm oak acorns are used as a food substitute for pigs. Acorn-fed Iberian ham obtained from pigs whose diet is exclusively with acorns of the genus is famous worldwide Quercus.
The bark and flowers of the holm oak are used as an effective astringent to relieve chronic diarrhea and prevent dysentery. In addition, it is used to stop bleeding from the nose, stomach and intestines, urinary tract and lungs.
Topically compresses are applied to reduce inflammation of hemorrhoids, ulcers, fistulas and stretch marks in the area of the nipples. On the other hand, the infusions have diuretic properties and it is an effective antioxidant.
Acorns produce a nectar or sugary secretion that honey insects collect to make honey. From the holm oak a particular dark-colored honey is obtained, called honeydew or forest honey, product of the bite of certain aphids.
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