California Black Oak (Plants of the Foothill College California Native Plant Garden)

California Black Oak

Quercus kelloggii

Family ²

Fagaceae

Description ³

California black oak is a deciduous, hardwood tree with a broad rounded crown from 10-25 m. high. It is the largest mountain oak in the West and surpasses all other California oaks in volume, distribution, and altitudinal range. The trunk bark is dark and covered with small plates. The bright green leaves are distinctly six-lobed ending in one to four bristle-tipped teeth, and the leaves are 7 to 20 cm. long. The acorns are 2.5 to 3.5 cm. in length and mature in the second year. The nut is deeply set in the cup and the cup is covered with thin, flat and imbricate scales.

Community ²

Mixed Evergreen Forest, Yellow Pine Forest, Northern Oak Woodland

Flowering ²

May-Jun

Ethnobotany ²

Used by many many California Natives as a staple food. http://herb.umd.umich.edu/herb/search.pl?searchstring=Quercus+kelloggii

Garden Location ²

Associated Species ²

butterflies

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

(c) josh jackson, some rights reserved (CC BY), http://www.flickr.com/photos/62614925@N00/2392148572
(c) gillian360, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/1392406

More Info

iNat Map

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