Family: Fagaceae Genus: Quercus Common name: Cork Oak, surera, alzina surera. Uses and properties: Edible or food uses. Furniture, construction and tools. Flowering time: April and May. Vital forms: Macrophanerophyte (Macrofaneròfit). Features: Very characteristic tree due to its thick and deeply fissured bark, known as cork. The leaves are ovoid and leathery, shiny green on the front and whitish on the back due to the pilosity. The fruit is the aglà, which is covered on the underside with a layer of long, loose scales. Notes: It seems that this tree is more appreciated on siliceous soils. Cork oak groves cover a total of 2,500,000 hectares in the Iberian Peninsula, more than half of which are in Portugal, where it is forbidden to fell the trees, except for forestry purposes or for ageing. And 650,000 hectares distributed between Andalusia, Extremadura, Catalonia, the Valencian Country and very small areas in the centre and the Balearic Islands. Traditionally, its trunk is used to make beehives and wine stoppers, while the surplus is used to make agglomerates. Due to the heavy pressure and the scarce reforestation of this species, it is not common in our area. Information taken from the website http://herbarivirtual.uib.es/ |