Anyone living on the island of Mallorca surely has their favourite tree, be that the palm tree in its splendid varieties, the olive tree with its gnarled trunks, some of them millennial, the carob tree, some of them mighty, the fig tree with its sculpturesque branches, the majestic Aleppo pine tree, or the glorious oak tree.

My personal favourite is the oak tree, again with all its subspecies. The most common oak tree in Mallorca is the Quercus ilex (Holm oak). The Quercus ilex ballota has the wonderful benefit and surprising virtue of having edible acorns. You can even find the Alzina d’aglans dolços acorns in your local market; they are now in season.

The photo (top) was taken in Caimari, Mallorca, Spain. The date: November 16th, 2008. The time was 12:29:00. The photo (bottom) was taken near Felanitx, Mallorca, Spain. The date: November 26th, 2008. The time was 13:54:55.