Quercus sadleriana

Deer oak

Family: Fagaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Deer oak is a California native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges in open, rocky slopes, ridges, and conifer forest at elevations of 600 to 2,200 meters. Flowering from April to June, this evergreen shrub produces small, inconspicuous flowers typical of oak species. Growing 1 to 3 meters tall with glabrous twigs, it forms a dense, rounded shape with distinctive foliage. Its leaves are elliptic to oblong-obovate, 7 to 11 centimeters long, with a shiny green upper surface and pale green undersides marked by 20 to 28 prominent straight lateral veins and finely serrated edges with 20 to 32 teeth. The shrub produces acorn cups 10 to 18 millimeters wide, with nuts 15 to 20 millimeters long that mature in the first year.

Habitat: Open, rocky slopes, ridges, conifer forest

Bloom period: Apr-Jun

Elevation: 600-2200 m

Bioregions: KR

California counties: Siskiyou, Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, Shasta

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