Quercus chrysolepis

Maul oak, canyon live oak, Canyon Live Oak

Family: Fagaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Maul oak is a California native shrub found in the California Floristic Province and eastern desert mountains in canyons, shaded slopes, chaparral, mixed-evergreen forest, and woodland at elevations of 30 to 2,750 meters. Flowering from April to May, this evergreen shrub produces small, inconspicuous flowers with golden-tomentose twigs that become nearly smooth with age. Growing as a multi-stemmed shrub or small tree up to 35 meters tall, it features a pale gray bark with narrow furrows and scaly texture. Its leathery leaves are oblong to round-ovate, 3 to 6 centimeters long, with a dark green upper surface and golden-puberulent lower surface that becomes grayish and glabrous as the leaf matures. The distinctive acorn cup is 17 to 30 millimeters wide, with thick, golden-tomentose scales, and contains a nut 25 to 30 millimeters long that matures in its second year.

Habitat: Canyons, shaded slopes, chaparral, mixed-evergreen forest, woodland

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: 30-2750 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (exc GV), e DMtns

California counties: Humboldt, Los Angeles, Kern, San Bernardino, Mendocino, San Benito, Riverside, Trinity, Shasta, Ventura, Lake, Fresno, Orange, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Inyo, Plumas, Butte, Santa Cruz, Marin, Santa Clara, Madera, Sonoma, Glenn, Placer, Del Norte, Siskiyou, Tulare, Nevada, Tuolumne, Napa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Mariposa, Alameda, San Luis Obispo, Amador, Calaveras, Colusa, San Mateo, Sierra, San Francisco, Tehama, Solano, Alpine, Yolo, Yuba

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