10 Trees on the Camino de Santiago

As the Camino reaches its final stretch on the road to Santiago de Compostela, the landscape becomes overwhelmingly green.

Galician vegetation includes species that are typical of milder areas and the Mediterranean region. The most spectacular landscape, however, is the Atlantic forest, with its deciduous trees and a predominance of oaks.

The riverbanks are replete with ash trees, alders, and willows. Certain areas have large groves of yews, birches, laurels, beeches, holly trees, and cork oaks …

Find out all about ten species of tree that are commonly found on the Camino in Galicia, and their ecological, social, historical, and symbolic importance.

Known in Galician as a carballo, the common oak has been present in Galician life for centuries. It is probably the best source of shade along the Camino, for pilgrims and wildlife alike. The trees' long lifespan and impressive size have led to them becoming a symbol of strength.

Castiñeiro is the Galician name for a chestnut tree. These trees have been present on the Iberian Peninsula for 20,000 years, providing wood and food for generation after generation. One of Galicia's oldest festivals, known as the magosto, is dedicated to the fruit of the chestnut tree.

The bark of the cork oak (known in Galician as the sobreira) provides us with the cork that is used to seal wine bottles, and is also used as an insulating material. In the past, it was used to build a type of beehive known as a cortizo. The Camino is dotted with several large cork oak specimens.

With their sturdy build, impressive height, and beautiful changing colors, it's no wonder that people fall in love with beech trees (known in Galician as faias). Pilgrims heading for Santiago de Compostela will find one of Europe's westernmost beech forests in the outskirts of O Cebreiro, the Faial de Liñares.

This tree, which grows abundantly alongside rivers, is known in Galician as a freixo. It is an essential part of riverbank forests, along with willows, alders, and other species. The hard wood of this tree was used to make farm tools and musical instruments.

All parts of the yew tree (known in Galician as the teixo) are poisonous, with the exception of the aril (the part of the berry that covers the seed). It is perhaps for this reason that the yew tree is shrouded in myth and symbolism: when grown at the doorway of a house, it symbolizes life, while at the entrances to churches and cemeteries, it symbolizes death.

This evergreen shrub, with its flat, rigid, glossy leaves, is known as acivro in Galician. The leaves tend to be less spiky toward the top of the tree, where they are out of reach of herbivores. It is linked to winter rituals, and strongly associated with Christmas.

In classical culture, the cypress tree symbolizes immortality and hospitality. A unique specimen that typifies both of these notions can be found along the Camino. This cypress tree, growing up the side of the ninth-century chapel of San Salvador in Samos, is 85 feet high and over 300 years old.

The quintessential Mediterranean tree, this tree is not as widespread as it once was in Galicia's landscape. That said, the grounds of the stately home Pazo de Santa Cruz de Ribadulla feature a spectacular olive tree walk (the trees are known as oliveiras in Galician) with around 500 trees that are over 500 years old.

Galicia is known as the land of a thousand rivers, and its riverbanks are lined with alder trees (amieiro in Galician). The roots of these trees are always submerged, making their wood both malleable and water resistant. The wood was traditionally used to make zocas (traditional Galician wooden clogs) and carnival masks.