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Quercus rotundifolia
Also called Ballota Oak, Belloot Oak, Belote Oak, Fodder Oak, Pig Oak, Sweet Acorn Oak
The Iberian holm oak (Quercus rotundifolia) is an evergreen oak native to the western Mediterranean region, with the majority of the population in the Iberian Peninsula and minor populations in Northwest Africa. The species was first described by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1785. It is the typical species of the Iberian dehesa or montado, where its sweet-astringent acorns are a source of food for livestock, particularly the Iberian pig. Its acorns have also been used for human nourishment since the Neolithic era (7,000 BC). It is placed in section Ilex. Some authors described it as a subspecies of Quercus ilex.
Quercus rotundifolia is native to most of the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain), but is also distributed throughout Morocco, especially in the Atlas Mountains, Algeria, Tunisia, southern France (Languedoc-Roussillon) and the Balearic Islands. It is present in continental, sub-continental or littoral Mediterranean areas but always in climatic conditions determined by a fairly hot and dry summer, which excludes the wet, oceanic influenced climate of Green Spain and northwest Portugal, but requires wet winters as the tree is absent from arid climates and those with no real wet months like southeast Spain. It grows in a variety of soils and is indifferent to variations in edaphic conditions, persisting in soils with pH from six to eight. The tree is also associated in Iberian holm oak/Atlas cedar forests of the Atlas Mountains. In Morocco, some of these mixed forests are habitat to the endangered Barbary macaque.
The Iberian holm oak's wood is traditionally used to make charcoal. The acorns can be consumed both by animals and humans. The bark is rich in tannin components for traditional medicinal uses. Quercus rotundifolia is also used as a host plant for the production of both the black truffle (Tuber melanosporum) and the summer truffle (Tuber aestivum var aestivum).
Quercus acatenangensis · Mapleleaf oak · Quercus acherdophylla · Quercus acrodonta · Quercus aculcingensis · Red Wood Evergreen Oak · Quercus acutangula · Quercus acutifolia · Sawtooth oak · Quercus aerea · African Oak · Quercus affinis
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Quercus rotundifolia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
