Notholithocarpus densiflorus var. densiflorus

Tanoak

Family: Fagaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Tanoak is a native shrub found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, Sierra Nevada, central western California, and western Transverse Ranges in redwood and mixed-evergreen forests at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from June to October, this plant produces flowers in dense clusters. Growing to a substantial shrub size with multiple stems, it forms dense thickets in forest understories. Its leathery leaves are large, measuring 4 to 14 centimeters long and 12 to 40 millimeters wide, with a thick, durable texture characteristic of woodland understory species. The shrub provides critical habitat and food resources for numerous forest ecosystem inhabitants.

Habitat: Redwood, mixed-evergreen forest

Bloom period: Jun-Oct

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, SN, CW, WTR

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

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