Quercus coccifera is usually a shrub less than 2 metres (6.6 ft) high, rarely a small tree, reaching 16 metres (3.3 - 19.7 ft) tall (a 10 metres (33 ft) specimen recorded in Kouf, Libya) and 50 cm trunk diameter. It is evergreen, with spiny-serrated coriaceous leaves 1.5 - 4 cm long and 1 - 3 cm broad. The acorns are 2-3 cm long and 1.5-2 cm diameter when mature about 18 months after pollination. They are held in a cup covered in dense, elongated, reflexed scales.It can survive heavy sheep and goat grazing for a long time as a ground carpet a few centimeters high, and will grow higher as a bush or a tree according to how much the grazing pressure is slackened.