This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2013) |
Kermes oak | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Fagales |
Family: | Fagaceae |
Genus: | Quercus |
Subgenus: | Quercus subg. Cerris |
Section: | Quercus sect. Ilex |
Species: | Q. coccifera |
Binomial name | |
Quercus coccifera | |
Distribution map | |
Synonyms [2] | |
List
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Quercus coccifera, the kermes oak, is an oak bush in the Ilex section of the genus. [3] It has many synonyms, including Quercus calliprinos. [2] It is native to the Mediterranean region and Northern African Maghreb, south to north from Morocco to France and west to east from Portugal to Cyprus and Turkey, crossing Spain, Italy, Libya, Balkans, and Greece, including Crete. The Kermes Oak was historically important as the food plant of Kermes scale insects, from which a red dye called crimson was obtained. [4] The etymology of the specific name coccifera is related to the production of red cochineal (crimson) dye and derived from Latin coccum which was from Greek κόκκος, the kermes insect. The Latin -fera means 'bearer'. [5]
Quercus coccifera is usually a shrub less than 2 metres (6+1⁄2 feet) high, rarely a small tree, reaching 1–6 metres (3+1⁄2–19+1⁄2 ft) tall (a 10 m or 33 ft specimen recorded in Kouf, Libya) [6] and 50 centimetres (20 inches) in trunk diameter. It is evergreen, with spiny-serrated coriaceous leaves 1.5–4 cm long and 1–3 cm broad. The acorns are 2–3 cm long and 1.5–2 cm in diameter when mature about 18 months after pollination. They are held in a cup covered in dense, elongated, reflexed scales.
It blooms from March to May in weather still wet. It is easily propagated by seed, an acorn that lies dormant until germinated by wet weather. This might occur anywhere from late summer to late autumn or early winter (October, November or December) of the following year. The acorns are very bitter, varying greatly in size and shape from one specimen to another and tasting bad. Acorns can germinate even before falling from the plant, but Q. coccifera is also multiplied by root suckers and layering.
Quercus coccifera was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. [2] It is called "chêne des garrigues" (garrigue oak) in French. The term "garrigue" comes from Catalan or Occitan "garric" (meaning "twisted") the name for Q. coccifera in those languages. The common Spanish name of Q. coccifera is chaparro , which refers to its small size, a feature it shares with other oak species in similar habitats in other parts of the world, such as the chaparral communities from various parts of the Americas. The word chaparro comes from the Basque txapar meaning "little thicket". [7] Quercus coccifera is placed in section Ilex. [8]
Quercus calliprinos, the Palestinian oak, of the eastern Mediterranean, has been distinguished from the kermes oak by its larger size (more often a tree, up to 18 m) and larger acorns over 2 cm diameter.[ citation needed ] In Israel it is called the common oak (Hebrew : אלון מצוי, IPA: [a'lonma'tsuj] ) or the Palestine oak.[ citation needed ]As of February 2023 [update] , Plants of the World Online regards it as a synonym of Quercus coccifera. [2]
Quercus coccifera is an important Mediterranean bush or dwarf vegetation, where the biome it dominates often bears its name ( maquis , coscojar, garrigue , carrascal, chaparral, etc.). Q. coccifera forms monospecific communities or communities integrated with Pinus , mediterranean buckthorns, Myrtus , Arecaceae, junipers, Pistacia , Rosmarinus , Thymus , etc.
It is located throughout the region around the Mediterranean Sea, especially in central southern and eastern halves. It is similarly found on islands in the Mediterranean, from the Balearic Islands to Cyprus. It is common in Crete and can survive heavy sheep and goat grazing for long periods as a ground cover a few centimeters high. The same is true in Mallorca, Ibiza and the Iberian peninsula.
The species grows on dry, sunny slopes. It supports both subhumid climates with dry summers or semi-desert climates with rainfall between 400 and 600 millimetres (16 and 24 in). A very hardy species, it grows well in all types of soils as a shrub, withstanding overgrazing. It is indifferent to soil chemistry, living on calcareous, pebbly, stony and poor soils. A lover of warm weather, it starts to fail from 1,000 m (3,300 ft) above sea level. It is capable of supporting the continental Mediterranean climate with more extreme temperatures and low rainfall, replacing Quercus ilex (holm oak) in drier areas where it excels in drought resistance. It also grows on sea cliffs and in windy areas where other species of Quercus or Pinus cannot resist the harsh weather conditions.
Populations typically occur in desert regions without any inhabited nucleus because crops are not economically profitable and the climate becomes progressively more continental and drier and therefore end in extreme temperatures accompanied by slow-growing dwarf juniper species. It is the last species of genus Quercus to disappear when rainfall is lacking. Their ecological importance is as a habitat and food source in these areas (they have edible acorns, although with a very bitter taste) for nesting birds, foxes, rodents and wild boars. It forms thickets, thorny and dense, some recorded as tall as 5 m. It is sometimes accompanied by other plant species of the same size and climber plants such as asparagus or zarzaparrilla.
Q. coccifera is associated with several asparagus species, Crataegus monogyna , Mediterranean dwarf palm, ephedra , myrtle, several species of Junipers (Juniperus, sabinas...), Pistacia terebinthus , mastic, wild Olea europea , sarsaparilla, Rhamnus atlantica , Rhamnus lycioides , Rhamnus oleoides , Rhamnus catharticus etc. The communities receiving several characteristic names.
Kermes oaks have become scarce due to their replacement in wet zones by larger species such as Holm oak. It has also suffered from extensive culling for use as charcoal. It is the only food and shelter for wildlife in some areas, such as the Ebro valley and other dry areas where chaparral replaces oaks due to low rainfall.
It can survive heavy sheep and goat grazing for a long time as a ground carpet a few cm high, and will grow higher as a bush or a tree according to how much the grazing pressure is slackened.
It is included as an endangered species in the Red Book of Bulgaria. [9]
In Cyprus village of Kalopanagiotis, the tallest tree of this species has grown to a height of 17 meters. The tree is approximately 700 years old.
Chaparral is a shrubland plant community found primarily in California, in southern Oregon and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate and infrequent, high-intensity crown fires.
Quercus ilex, the evergreen oak, holly oak or holm oak is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the Ilex section of the genus, with acorns that mature in a single summer.
Quercus suber, commonly called the cork oak, is a medium-sized, evergreen oak tree in the section Quercus sect. Cerris. It is the primary source of cork for wine bottle stoppers and other uses, such as cork flooring and as the cores of cricket balls. It is native to southwest Europe and northwest Africa. In the Mediterranean basin the tree is an ancient species with fossil remnants dating back to the Tertiary period.
Live oak or evergreen oak is any of a number of oaks in several different sections of the genus Quercus that share the characteristic of evergreen foliage. These oaks are generally not more closely related to each other than they are to other oaks.
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Pistacia terebinthus also called the terebinth and the turpentine tree, is a deciduous shrub species of the genus Pistacia, native to the Mediterranean region from the western regions of Morocco and Portugal to Greece and western and southeastern Turkey. At one time terebinths growing on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea were regarded as a separate species, Pistacia palaestina, but these are now considered to be a synonym of P. terebinthus.
Garrigue or garigue, also known as phrygana, is a type of low scrubland ecoregion and plant community in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome.
Quercus alnifolia, commonly known as the golden oak, is an evergreen oak species of Cyprus. Its common English name refers to the golden coloured lower surface of its leaves. Quercus alnifolia belongs to the endemic flora of the island and it is confined to the igneous geological complex of the Troodos Mountains. In February 2006, the parliament of Cyprus selected the golden oak to be the country's national tree.
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Rhamnus lycioides, the black hawthorn, European buckthorn, or Mediterranean buckthorn, is a shrub up to about 1 metre tall in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae. It is found in the Mediterranean region, in southern Europe and northern Africa. Its scientific name lycioides refers to its resemblance to the botanical genus Lycium.
Quercus franchetii, commonly known as the zhui lian li evergreen oak, is a species of oak in the Ilex section of the genus, native to a wide area of eastern Asia. It is an oak native to China, northern Thailand and Vietnam, growing at altitudes between 800 and 2,600 metres.
Quercus pseudococcifera is a species of flowering plant in the beech family Fagaceae, native to the west and central Mediterranean.
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Quercus pannosa is a species of oak native to south-central China. An evergreen tree or shrub, it is found at very high elevations, flourishing at up to 4,270 metres above sea level. It is classified in subgenus Cerris, section Ilex.
Quercus subgenus Cerris is one of the two subgenera into which the genus Quercus was divided in a 2017 classification. It contains about 140 species divided among three sections. It may be called the Old World clade or the mid-latitude clade; all species are native to Eurasia and North Africa.
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