Introduction
Quercus faginea
We are within a forest of oaks, but if we look on the floor or on the crown of the trees, we will be able to see serrated edge or little pricked leaves, it is the Valencian Oak. Also known as small-leaves Oak, lives mainly in the Mediterranean region of the Iberian Peninsula and northwest Africa. Often associated with cork oak, holm, and oak forests, as we find them here.
They are typical from this tree also called “galer”, the “galas” (balls), guts or cecidis (photo), balls with the size of a walnut, with brown spines that form a crown, and with a spongy inside. These balls are produced by the tree’s reaction to the bite of small gall wasp, and when the reaction takes place, the eggs are protected in inside the ball. If we open the ball by half, in some cases, we can see the little wasp inside. These balls have traditionally been used to extract tannin for tanning up leathers.