Kermes oak or Holm oak: how to tell them apart?

Kermes oak and Holm oak look alike and are often mixed up. Here is how to tell them apart, feature by feature, with their photos and the details to look for.

⚡ The quick answer

Kermes oak

Quercus coccifera

Holm oak

Quercus ilex

The kermes oak remains a dense bush of 2 to 4 m whereas the holm oak becomes a true tree of 10 to 20 m; on young specimens, compare mainly the leaves: regularly and densely spiny all round the margin in kermes oak, as against barely toothed or entire leaves in the mature holm oak. The acorn cup helps too: bristling with small prickly scales in kermes oak, felted and smooth in holm oak.

🍃 Leaves

Evergreen, leathery, small, ovate, edged with regular spiny teeth recalling those of holly but smaller; underside darker than in holm oak.

Evergreen, leathery, very variable: entire on the adult leaves of some twigs, or toothed/spiny mainly on young trees and suckers; upper surface dark green, underside greyish and downy.

🌸 Flowers

Yellowish, inconspicuous male catkins, appearing with the young shoots

Yellowish hanging catkins

🍎 Fruits

Small acorn with a cup covered in prickly scales, unlike the smooth, felted cup of the holm oak

Small elongated acorns with a felted cup

🪵 Bark

Grey, finely fissured, often little visible beneath a very branched bushy habit from the base

Grey-black, finely fissured

📏 Size

2 to 4 m tall, forming a dense bush rather than a tree

10 to 20 m tall

🗺️ Habitat

Mediterranean garrigue and maquis, dry calcareous soils

Mediterranean garrigue and forests

⚠️ Toxicity

No known toxicity; bitter acorns rich in tannins, non-toxic but not very palatable to humans

Acorns rich in tannins, to be eaten in moderation by animals; harmless on contact

🔎 And from the Holm oak side

The kermes oak looks like a young spiny holm oak, but remains a low bush of 2 to 4 m with leaves regularly and densely prickly all round their margin, whereas the mature holm oak becomes a tree and bears leaves that are barely toothed, even entire.

🌿 Go further

Want to practise spotting these details on real photos? Floraneo offers profiles and quizzes for dozens of look-alike species.

View the profile: Kermes oak View the profile: Holm oak

ℹ️ Educational profile — do not use it to judge whether a plant is edible or safe.