:Quercus coccifera

{{Short description|Species of tree}}

{{speciesbox

| name = Kermes oak

| image = Quercus coccifera coccifera, Bot.jpg

| status = LC

| status_system = IUCN3.1

| status_ref = {{cite iucn |title=Quercus coccifera |last1=Gorener |first1=V. |last2=Barstow |first2=M. |last3=Harvey-Brown |first3=Y. |name-list-style=amp |page=e.T194078A2296598 |date=2018 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2018-1.RLTS.T194078A2296598.en |access-date=25 January 2024 }}

| genus = Quercus

| display_parents = 2

| parent = Quercus sect. Ilex

| species = coccifera

| authority = L.

| range_map = Quercus coccifera range.svg

| range_map_caption = Distribution map

| synonyms_ref = {{cite web |title=Quercus coccifera L.. |work=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|url=http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:295963-1 |access-date=2023-02-21 }}

| synonyms = {{collapsible list|bullets = true

|Ilex aculeata Garsault

|Quercus aquifolia Kotschy ex A.DC., nom. subnud.

|Quercus arcuata Kotschy ex A.DC.

|Quercus brachybalanos Kotschy ex A.DC.

|Quercus calliprinos Webb

|Quercus chainolepis Kotschy ex A.DC.

|Quercus coccifera subsp. calliprinos (Webb) Holmboe

|Quercus coccifera subsp. cryptocarpa Svent. & Marcet

|Quercus coccifera subsp. kryptocarpa Svent. & Marcet

|Quercus coccifera subsp. palaestina (Kotschy) Holmboe

|Quercus consobrina Kotschy ex A.DC.

|Quercus cretica Raulin ex A.DC., pro syn.

|Quercus dipsacina Kotschy ex A.DC.

|Quercus dispar Kotschy ex A.DC., nom. illeg.

|Quercus echinata Kotschy ex A.DC., not validly publ.

|Quercus fenzlii Kotschy

|Quercus inops Kotschy ex A.DC., not validly publ.

|Quercus mesto Boiss.

|Quercus obtecta Poir.

|Quercus palaestina Kotschy

|Quercus pentadactyla Bosc

|Quercus pseudorigida Kotschy ex A.Camus

|Quercus recurvans Kotschy ex A.DC.

|Quercus rigida Willd.

|Quercus sibthorpii Kotschy ex Boiss.

|Quercus valida Kotschy ex A.DC.

|Scolodrys rigida (Willd.) Raf.

}}

}}

Quercus coccifera, the kermes oak or commonly known as Palestine oak,{{cite web | title=Are Quercus calliprinos and Q. coccifera the Same or Distinct Species? | website=International Oak Society | date=2023-12-04 | url=https://www.internationaloaksociety.org/content/are-quercus-calliprinos-and-q-coccifera-same-or-distinct-species | access-date=2024-11-11}} is an oak shrub or tree in section Ilex of the genus.{{Citation |last1=Denk |first1=Thomas |title=An Updated Infrageneric Classification of the Oaks: Review of Previous Taxonomic Schemes and Synthesis of Evolutionary Patterns |date=2017 |url=https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2017/07/31/168146.full.pdf |work=Oaks Physiological Ecology. Exploring the Functional Diversity of Genus Quercus L. |pages=13–38 |editor-last=Gil-Pelegrín |editor-first=Eustaquio |place=Cham |publisher=Springer International Publishing |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-69099-5_2 |isbn=978-3-319-69099-5 |access-date=2022-11-16 |last2=Grimm |first2=Guido W. |last3=Manos |first3=Paul S. |last4=Deng |first4=Min |last5=Hipp |first5=Andrew L. |editor2-last=Peguero-Pina |editor2-first=José Javier |editor3-last=Sancho-Knapik |editor3-first=Domingo}} It has many synonyms, including Quercus calliprinos. It is native to the Mediterranean region and Northern African Maghreb, south to north from Morocco to France and west to east from Portugal to Cyprus and Turkey, crossing Spain, Italy, Libya, the Balkans, and Greece, including Crete. The Kermes oak was historically important as the food plant of Kermes scale insects, from which a red dye called crimson was obtained.{{cite book|last=Young|first=Frank N. Jr|title=A Survey of Entomology|year=2002|publisher=Writers Club Press|location=San Jose|isbn=0-595-22143-2|page=9 |author2=Kritsky, Gene}} The etymology of the specific name coccifera is related to the production of red cochineal (crimson) dye and derived from Latin coccum which was from Greek κόκκος, the kermes insect. The Latin -fera means 'bearer'.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cochineal|title=Cochineal}}