Quercus vacciniifolia

Huckleberry oak

Family: Fagaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Huckleberry oak is a California native shrub found in the Klamath Ranges, northern Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada Mountains, and North Coast Mountains in conifer forests and on steep slopes and ridges at elevations of 150 to 2,930 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces small pale green to yellowish flowers in unassuming clusters. Growing as a low, prostrate to spreading evergreen shrub less than 1.5 meters tall, it forms slender, pliable branches with a distinctive spreading growth habit. Its leathery leaves are roughly oblong, 1.5 to 4 centimeters long, with entire or slightly toothed margins and a dull pale green color on the undersides. The mature acorn cups are 10 to 12 millimeters wide, with thin scales, and contain oval nuts 10 to 15 millimeters long that mature in the second year.

Habitat: Steep slopes, ridges, conifer forest, subalpine

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: 150-2930 m

Bioregions: KR, NCoRH, NCoRI, CaRH, SNH, MP

California counties: Trinity, El Dorado, Mariposa, Sierra, Siskiyou, Fresno, Butte, Plumas, Del Norte, Tuolumne, Madera, Amador, Nevada, Shasta, Alpine, Mendocino, Humboldt, Mono, Calaveras, Glenn, Inyo, Lassen, Tulare, Placer, Colusa, Lake, Tehama, Santa Barbara

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