An evergreen type of oak common in lands with warm climates. Sometimes known as 'ilexes' or 'holly-oaks', holm-oaks can grow to a large size and develop widely-spreading boughs. In Middle-earth, holm-oaks were found growing in the southern land of Ithilien, and indeed Frodo, Sam and Gollum sheltered for a night among the branches of such a tree as they made their way through that country.
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The holm-oak is a true oak, but an evergreen variety growing in warmer climes, with leaves that are tougher and narrower than those of a typical oak and red-shaded acorns. It thus looks somewhat like a holly tree (to which it is unrelated) and so it acquired the name 'holm-oak' or 'holly-oak'. The 'holm' element of its name evolved from an old word hollin for 'holly', and 'Hollin' was also the Mannish name for the land of Eregion. This is not a coincidence: that land was also named for the holly trees which grew there.
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- Updated 13 January 2020
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