Quercus ×macdonaldii

Macdonald oak, Macdonald Oak

Family: Fagaceae · Type: tree · Native

Macdonald oak is a California native tree found on Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, and Santa Catalina islands in woodland and canyon slopes at elevations below 600 meters. Flowering from March to May, this tree produces small greenish flowers typical of oak species. Growing 5 to 15 meters tall with a deciduous habit and scaly gray bark, it develops gnarled, spreading branches with tomentose (woolly) twigs. Its oblong to obovate leaves are 4 to 7 centimeters long, with 2 to 6 shallow pointed lobes, appearing glossy green on top and pale green underneath with dense stellate hairs. The tree produces acorn cups 10 to 20 millimeters wide with tubercled, grayish scales, maturing its nuts within one year.

Habitat: Slopes, canyons, woodland

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 600 m

Bioregions: ChI (Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, Santa Catalina islands).

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