Evergreen or Holm Oak

The Evergreen or Holm Oak is naturalised in the UK, the greenish-yellow catkins appearing in May.

Species introduction

At a glance
Latin name: 
Quercus ilex
Family: 
Beeches, Sweet Chestnuts and Oaks
Family Latin name: 
FAGACEAE
Category: 
Flowering Plants

Species description

Species description

This tree is naturalised in the UK, the greenish-yellow catkins appearing in May.  It is a favourite tree for establishing truffle orchards. The wood is hard and tough, and has been used since ancient times for general construction purposes, such as for pillars, tools, wagons, vessels and wine casks.  It is also used as firewood and in charcoal manufacture.

Species photographs

Larger photograph(s) (click to magnify)

Details

Species family information

This is a large family worldwide, the trees being characterised by catkin-like flowers and fruit in the form of single cup-like nuts. Some species are valued timber trees.

Category information

Nucleic multicellular photosynthetic organisms lived in freshwater communities on land as long ago as a thousand million years, and their terrestrial descendants are known from the late Pre-Cambrian 850 million years ago. Embryophyte land plants are known from the mid Ordovician, and land plant structures such as roots and leaves are recognisable in mid Devonian fossils. Seeds seem to have evolved by the late Devonian. The Embryophytes are green land plants that form the bulk of the Earth’s vegetation. They have specialised reproductive organs and nurture the young embryo sporophyte. Most obtain their energy by photosynthesis, using sunlight to synthesise food from Carbon Dioxide and Water.

The earliest known plant group is the Archaeplastida, which were autotrophic. Listing just the surviving descendants, which evolved in turn, we have the Red Algae, the Chlorophyte Green Algae, the Charophyte Green Algae, and then the Embryophyta or land plants. The earliest embryophytes were the Liverworts, followed by the Hornworts, and the Mosses. Then we have the Vascular Plants, the Lycophytes and Ferns, followed by the Spermatophytes or seed plants, the Gnetophytes, Conifers, Ginkgos, and Cycads, and finally the Magnoliophyta (Angiosperms) or flowering plants.