Quercus ×alvordiana

Family: Fagaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Alvord oak is a California native shrub found in the Tehachapi, southern Coast Ranges, and western Transverse Ranges on dry slopes and hills at elevations of 180 to 1,300 meters. Flowering from January to March, this plant produces inconspicuous flowers typical of oak species. Growing as a compact shrub to small tree less than 3 meters tall, it can be evergreen or deciduous with a variable growth form. Its leaves are distinctive, measuring 1.5 to 5 centimeters long with oblong to widely elliptic blades that are blue- to gray-green on top, pale green underneath, and have irregularly coarse teeth along the margins. The mature acorn cup is 10 to 16 millimeters wide, bowl-shaped with light brown, slightly tubercled scales, containing a 20 to 40 millimeter nut that is narrowly ovoid and asymmetric.

Habitat: dry slopes, hills

Bloom period: Jan-Mar

Elevation: 180-1300 m

Bioregions: Teh, SCoR, WTR.

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