Kermes Oak

Description:

Quercus coccifera is a large shrub, rarely a small tree, reaching 1–6 metres (3.3–20 ft) tall (rarely to 10 metres (33 ft)) and 50 cm trunk diameter. It is evergreen, with spiny-serrated leaves 1.5–4 cm long and 1–3 cm broad. The acorns are 2–3 cm long and 1.5–2 cm diameter when mature about 18 months after pollination. They are held in a cup covered in dense, elongated, reflexed scales

Habitat:

native to the western Mediterranean region and Northern African Maghreb, from Morocco and Portugal east to Libya and Greece

Notes:

The Kermes Oak was historically important as the food plant of the Kermes scale insect, from which a red dye called crimson was obtained.