Quercus cornelius-mulleri

Muller's oak, Muller's Oak

Family: Fagaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Muller's oak is a California native shrub found in southern Sierra Nevada, San Gabriel Mountains (northern slope), San Bernardino Mountains (northern slope), Peninsular Ranges (eastern slope), southern desert mountains including Little San Bernardino Mountains, and desert regions at elevations of 300 to 2,140 meters in chaparral and pinyon woodland. Flowering from February to April, this shrub produces small cream or yellow flowers on densely branched evergreen stems. Growing 1 to 2.5 meters tall with finely tomentose twigs, it forms a compact, intricate branching structure. Its leathery leaves are oblong to narrowly obovate, 2.5 to 3.5 centimeters long, with yellow to gray-green surfaces and densely white-tomentose undersides, featuring entire or subtly toothed margins. The mature acorns develop in cup-shaped husks 12 to 20 millimeters wide, with elliptical nuts 20 to 30 millimeters long.

Habitat: Slopes, generally granitic soils, chaparral, pinyon woodland

Bloom period: Feb-Apr

Elevation: 300-2140 m

Bioregions: s SNH, SnGb (n slope), SnBr (n slope), PR (e slope), s DMtns (Little San Bernardino Mtns), DSon (Eagle Mtns)

California counties: San Bernardino, Riverside, San Diego, Orange, Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Marin, Ventura

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