Quercus vacciniifolia |
Quercus kelloggii |
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huckleberry oak |
California black oak, Kellogg oak |
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Habit | Shrubs, low spreading to often prostrate, to 1.5 m. Twigs branching at 45° angles or less, reddish brown, 1-1.5 mm diam., flexible, glabrous to sparsely pubesent. | Trees, deciduous, to 25 m. Bark dark brown to black, ridges broad, irregular. |
Twigs | brown to red-brown, (1.5-)2-3.5 mm diam., glabrate. |
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Leaves | blade oblong-ovate, 10-35 × 7-15 mm, flat, thin, leathery, base slightly rounded to acute, secondary veins inconspicuous, 6-8 pairs, branching at 45-60° angles, with weakly thickened cell walls, margins entire or indistinctly and irregularly mucronately toothed, apex acute or rarely obtuse; surfaces abaxially whitish green with waxy layer, glabrous or slightly pubescent with stellate hairs, adaxially dull gray-green, glabrous or sparsely pubescent with stellate hairs. |
blade ovate or broadly elliptic to obovate, 60-200 × 40-140 mm, base cordate to obtuse, occasionally rounded, margins with 7-11 lobes and 13-45 awns, lobes acute to distally expanded, separated by deep sinuses, apex acute; surfaces abaxially glabrous with small axillary tufts of tomentum to densely pubescent, adaxially glabrous to minutely pubescent, veins raised on both surfaces. |
Acorns | solitary or rarely paired; cup shallowly saucer-shaped to slightly turbinate, 3-4 mm deep × 10-15 mm wide, scales appressed, slightly embedded, moderately silvery brown-pubescent; nut ovoid, 8-17 × 5-10 mm, apex acute; nut scar to 3 mm diam. |
biennial; cup saucer-shaped to deeply bowl-shaped, 13-27 mm high × 20-28 mm wide, covering 1/2-2/3 nut, outer surface glabrous to sparsely puberulent, inner surface 1/3 to completely pubescent, scales more than 4 mm long, attenuate or acuminate to acute, smooth, occasionally tuberculate near base of cup, tips loose, especially at margin of cup; nut oblong to broadly ellipsoid, 21-34 × 14-22 mm, puberulent, especially at apex, scar diam. 5.5-10.5 mm. |
Terminal | buds conic, 2.5 mm, scales brown with ciliate margins. |
buds chestnut brown, ovoid, 4-10 mm, glabrous or with scales ciliate on margins. |
2n | = 24. |
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Quercus vacciniifolia |
Quercus kelloggii |
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Phenology | Flowering in early summer. | Flowering late spring. |
Habitat | Dry ridges, steep slopes, and rocky areas from montane coniferous zone to near treeline | On slopes and valleys of hills and mountains |
Elevation | 900-2800 m (3000-9200 ft) | 300-2400 m (1000-7900 ft) |
Distribution |
CA; NV; OR
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CA; OR
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Discussion | Typical high-elevation populations in the Sierra Nevada of California can be distinguished from all shrubby forms of Quercus chrysolepis by the absence of glandular trichomes and by thin cups with small nut-attachment scars. At lower elevations in northern California and southwestern Oregon, secondary contact with Q. chrysolepis has resulted in the formation of hybrids. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The abundant crops of acorns from Quercus kelloggii were at one time an important food source for Native Americans. The species reportedly hybridizes with Quercus agrifolia (= Q. ×ganderi C. B. Wolf) and Q. wislizenii (= Q. ×morehus Kellogg). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3. |
Parent taxa | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Protobalanus | Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Lobatae |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Q. californica, Q. tinctoria var. californica | |
Name authority | Hittell: Resources Calif. 101. (1863) — (as vaccinifolia) | Newberry: Pacif. Railr. Rep. 6: 28, 89, fig. 6. (1859) |
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