Quercus tomentella

Island oak, Island Oak

Family: Fagaceae · Type: tree · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 4.2

Island oak is a native tree found in the Channel Islands at elevations below 600 meters in canyon and woodland habitats. Flowering from April to May, this tree produces small, unremarkable flowers characteristic of oak species. Growing up to 20 meters tall with an evergreen habit, it features a distinctive gray or red-brown trunk with deeply furrowed, scaly bark and tomentose (woolly) young twigs. Its leaves are oblong to oblong-ovate, 5 to 8 centimeters long, with a dark green upper surface that becomes glabrous with age and a densely tomentose, dull gray-green undersurface. The tree's acorn cup is 20 to 30 millimeters wide, with thick, tubercled scales, and the nut is widely ovoid, maturing in its second year.

Habitat: Canyons, slopes, woodland

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: < 600 m

Bioregions: ChI

California counties: Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Ventura, San Diego

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