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  2. Plants of the Foothill College California Native Plant Garden
  3. Coast Live Oak

Coast Live Oak

Quercus agrifolia

Family 2

Fagaceae

Description 3

Coast live oak, an evergreen tree 10 to 25 m tall, has a broad, dense crown and widely spreading branches. The lower limbs of ungrazed trees often recline on the ground. Mature bark is gray and shallowly furrowed. Leaves are oblong to oval, 2 to 6 cm in length, cupped, with entire to toothed margins. The upper surface is strongly convex, deep green and smooth, but the lower surface is paler, with hairy-tufted vein axils. Acorn cups are composed of thin, flat scales. The one-seeded nuts are 2 to 4 cm long, narrowly conical, and mature in one year. On average, trees have high acorn production once every 2 to 3 years.

Community 2

Mixed Evergreen Forest, Foothill Woodland, Southern Oak Woodland

Flowering 2

Feb- Apr

Ethnobotany 2

Native Americans used acorns as an important food staple and early European colonists found that its wood made a superior charcoal for use in a variety of industries, including baking and preparing mortar.

Garden Location 2

U, B

Associated species 2

California Sister Adelpha bredowii californica (host) ASB
Propertius Duskywing Erynnis propertius (host) BMNA
Mournful Duskywing Erynnis tristis (host) BMNA

  • California Sister Adelpha bredowii (host) ASB
  • Propertius Dusky-Wing Erynnis propertius (host) ASB
  • Mournful Dusky-Wing Erynnis tristis (host) ASB
  • Gold-Hunter's Hairstreak Satyrium auretorum (host) ASB

Sources and Credits

  1. (c) gillian360, all rights reserved, uploaded by gillian360
  2. (c) gillian360, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
  3. Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/1392257

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