Coast Live Oak
Quercus agrifolia
Summary 7
Quercus agrifolia, the California live oak, or coast live oak, is an evergreen oak (highly variable and often shrubby), native to the California Floristic Province. It grows west of the Sierra Nevada from Mendocino County, California, south to northern Baja California in Mexico. It is classified in the red oak section (Quercus sect. Lobatae).
Description 8
General: Oak Family (Fagaceae). 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. Like all oaks, coast live oak is monoecious and wind-pollinated. 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. Flowering takes place from February to April. Fruits mature between August and October.
Distribution: Coast live oak occurs in the coast ranges from north central California southward to northern Baja California. For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.
Sources and Credits
- (c) randomtruth, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://www.flickr.com/photos/58096907@N00/2596052770
- (c) Franco Folini, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5511/10765444783_7b18e4a842_o.jpg
- (c) Keir Morse, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), https://calphotos.berkeley.edu/imgs/512x768/0000_0000/1208/3278.jpeg
- (c) 1999 California Academy of Sciences, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=20191&one=T
- (c) 2007 California Academy of Sciences, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=222307&one=T
- (c) kqedquest, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3183/2434188285_269285784e.jpg
- (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_agrifolia
- Public Domain, http://eol.org/data_objects/1392257
More Info
- iNat taxon page
- Atlas of Living Australia
- Biodiversity Heritage Library
- BOLD Systems BIN search
- Calflora
- CalPhotos
- eFloras.org
- Flora of North America (beta)
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
- HOSTS - a Database of the World's Lepidopteran Hostplants
- IPNI (with links to POWO, WFO, and BHL)
- Jepson eFlora
- NatureServe Explorer 2.0
- SEINet Symbiota portals
- Tropicos
- USDA PLANTS database
- World Flora Online
