Quercus palmeri

Palmer's oak, Palmer's Oak

Family: Fagaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Palmer's oak is a California native shrub found in eastern North Coast Ranges, southern Sierra Nevada, northwestern San Joaquin Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, Southern Coast Ranges, Transverse Ranges, San Gabriel Mountains, San Bernardino Mountains, eastern Peninsular Ranges, southern Desert Mountains, and Little San Bernardino Mountains on rocky slopes and flats at elevations of 300 to 1,600 meters. Flowering from April to May, this evergreen shrub produces olive-green leaves with wavy, spine-toothed margins and pale gray-green undersides. Growing 2 to 6 meters tall with spreading, rigid branches, it forms a distinctive, sturdy woodland presence. Its stiff leaves are elliptic to round-ovate, 1 to 3 centimeters long, with a shiny surface and spine-toothed tips that give the plant a rugged texture. The mature acorn cup is bowl-shaped, 10 to 25 millimeters wide, with densely hairy scales and a nut that develops over two years.

Habitat: Uncommon. Rocky slopes, flats

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: 300-1600 m

Bioregions: e NCoRI (Colusa Co.), s SNH (e slope), nw SnJV (Alameda, Contra Costa cos.), SnFrB (Alameda Co.), SCoR, WTR, SnGb (n slope), SnBr (n slope), e PR, s edge DMoj, DMtns (Little San Bernardino Mtns)

California counties: Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, San Benito, Contra Costa, Colusa, Kern, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Alameda, Lake, Los Angeles

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