Quercus john-tuckeri

Tucker's oak

Family: Fagaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Tucker's oak is a California native shrub found in southern Sierra Nevada, Tehachapi, southern Coast Ranges, western Transverse Ranges, and southwestern Mojave Desert at elevations of 900 to 2,090 meters in desert border slopes, chaparral, and pinyon-juniper woodlands. Flowering from February to April, this oak produces small pale flowers in understated clusters. Growing as a dense evergreen shrub 2 to 5 meters tall with young twigs covered in fine soft hairs, it has a distinctive form with multiple stems. Its leathery leaves are oblong to elliptical, gray-green with irregular spine-toothed edges, measuring 1.3 to 2.8 centimeters long and featuring a rounded base and obtuse tip. The acorn cup is 10 to 15 millimeters wide, producing ovoid nuts 20 to 30 millimeters long that mature within a single year.

Habitat: Slopes on desert borders, chaparral, pinyon/juniper woodland

Bloom period: Feb-Apr

Elevation: 900-2090 m

Bioregions: s SN, Teh (e slope), SCoRI, WTR (n slope), SnGb (n slope), sw edge DMoj.

California counties: Kern, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura, Monterey, Santa Barbara, San Benito, Sonoma, San Luis Obispo, Fresno

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