It has a very limited distribution in the coastal mountains of the eastern Tell Atlas in Algeria, and the Mogod-Kroumerie region of northwestern Tunisia.

Quercus afares is deciduous, with a corky bark (thinner than that of the cork oak, Q. suber), and can reach 25–30 metres in height.

It is endemic to the eastern coastal portion of the Mediterranean conifer and mixed forests ecoregion.

[3] A 2006 genetic analysis using both nuclear (allozymes) and chloroplastic markers found that Q. afares originated as a hybrid of Q. suber and Q. canariensis.

Like Q. suber, it has a biennial reproductive cycle, corky bark, and similar fruit, and also does not occur on limestone soils.