Musings

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Holm Oak




 Another naughty non-native. Just a quickie as I'm late again and have other stuff to do before bed. 
Found this growing up on the Downs near the old racecourse. It's a Holm Oak or Evergreen Oak - Quercus ilex. It's a Mediterranean species widely introduced and self-seeding in the south of England. I suspect this will have self-seeded as it's younger than the end of racing when specimen trees may have been planted. It's not the only foreign Quercus on the downs either.
The oaks are actually in the Fagaceae or beech family. The name ilex comes, as you no doubt know (20th January), from the Latin for holly.

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