Quercus kelloggii

California black oak, California Black Oak

Family: Fagaceae · Type: tree · Native

California black oak is a native tree found in California floristic province (except Great Valley, Southern California Coast, and Channel Islands) and Modoc Plateau in woodland and conifer forest slopes and valleys at elevations of 30 to 2,660 meters. Flowering from mid-February to May, this tree produces small greenish-yellow flowers in clusters. Growing to 35 meters tall with a deciduous habit, it develops a distinctive trunk with deeply furrowed, checkered bark that ranges from dark gray to black. Its large leaves are widely elliptic or nearly round, 6 to 20 centimeters long, with bright green upper surfaces and pale green undersides featuring 6 lobed margins with 1 to 4 bristle-tipped teeth. The tree produces acorns with cup-shaped shells 16 to 25 millimeters wide, maturing in its second year.

Habitat: Slopes, valleys, woodland, conifer forest

Bloom period: Mid Feb-May

Elevation: 30-2660 m

Bioregions: CA-FP (exc GV, SCo, ChI), MP

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

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