Notholithocarpus densiflorus

Tanoak

Family: Fagaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Tanoak is a native shrub or tree found in California's coastal ranges and Sierra Nevada foothills in mixed evergreen and conifer forests, typically growing at moderate elevations. Flowering from spring to early summer, this plant produces small greenish-yellow flowers in dense, stiff spikes. Growing to 30 meters tall with a gray-brown trunk, it develops an evergreen form with spreading branches. Its leathery leaves are oblong to slightly ovate, 3 to 14 centimeters long, with entire to slightly serrated edges and a fine woolly undersurface that becomes smoother with age. The distinctive acorn-like fruit develops in a saucer-shaped cup 2 to 3 centimeters wide, with a single nut 20 to 35 millimeters long that matures in its second year.

California counties: Humboldt, Santa Barbara, San Mateo, Mendocino, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Sierra, Siskiyou, Marin, Yuba, Shasta, Del Norte, Trinity, Ventura, El Dorado, Butte, Sonoma, Santa Clara, Mariposa, Plumas, Placer, Napa

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.