Holm oak

The holm oak is the typical tree of Mediterranean flora. It is an evergreen plant with thick, waxy, hairy leaves that are particularly well suited to the Mediterranean climate. It can grow to a height of 25 meters, exceed one meter in diameter, and live for up to 1,000 years. The male flowers are arranged in clusters, while the female flowers are solitary or in small groups. The fruit is a typical acorn. Humans have been eating acorns for at least 900,000 years. Holm oak acorn flour is sweeter than other oak spieces and was used by the Etruscans to make holm oak bread (they added a little clay). In rural tradition, the flour has long been used to make bread and cakes. The holm oak forest once covered most of the island’s surface. The Etruscans, Romans, and Pisans used holm oak as furnace wood to extract iron from Elba’s minerals. Later, vineyards, “biancolino” wheat cultivation, and fires hindered the development of holm oak forests. Only in recent decades, with all attention focused on tourism and the coast, have young holm oak forests been renewed in the mountains (especially in the Caubbio valley and on either side of the military road that leads from Passo Reciso to San Martino Mount).