Holm Tree/Holm Oak (Quercus ilex)

The Holm Tree is a variety of oak, although it doesn’t look like our usual English Oak (quercus ruber, see 10). The leaves look much like holly leaves, hence its other name, Holly Oak.

Its acorns are used as fodder for poultry, deer, wild boars, and pigs, especially in Spain. Ground, boiled acorns can be made into flour for baking bread, pancakes, and pastries, and an alternative to coffee, or boiled, roasted and salted as nutritious snack. The wood, which is hard and tough, is used for furniture, posts and pillars, tools, carts, and wine casks, as well as for firewood and charcoal.

Biblical

This tree is not mentioned in ESV but in RSV.

Isaiah gives a detailed description of various trades and their tools and materials, among others, carpenters who use holm trees for their work (Isaiah 44.14) – see also 10. Oak and 11. Cedar.

The story of Suzanna is well known: two man make false allegations against her, and she faces death by stoning. However, Daniel in his wisdom examines the witnesses separately and finds out that they are lying, one says it happened under a mastic tree, the other under an evergreen oak and Suzanna is saved (Daniel 13.58).