Quercus garryana
Common name:
Oregon White Oak
Garry Oak
Pronunciation:
KWER-kus gar-RI-ana
Family:
Fagaceae
Genus:
Type:
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
Yes
- Deciduous tree, 40-90 ft (12-27 m), broad spreading, rounded crown, rugged, heavy ascending, crooked branches, often shrubby when young (less than 25 years). Leaves alternate, simple, 5-15 cm long, dark green, round lobed, autumn color is saddle brown, occasionally tinted gold or dull red. Fruit (acorn) with a short stalk or sessile, ovate, smooth, 2.5.-3 cm long, apex rounded, murcronate (small, sharp point), about 1/3 enclosed by the shallow cup; ripens the first year.
- Sun, likes dry soil in summer, deep tap root, summer watering can cause root rot, therefore not suitable in an irrigated lawn. Good shelter for rhododendrons. Leaves are susceptible to insect induced galls. Like many other oaks, they also occasionally form large galls, as wide as 5 cm or more. These so-called 'oak apples' are in response to the placement of the eggs of a specific wasp on the midrib of leaves.
- Hardy to USDA Zone 6 Native to western British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and northwestern California.
- There is a shrubby form, Q. g. var. breweri (Brewer's Oak), that occurs in Siskiyou region of northern California and southern Oregon.
- garryana: named by David Douglas to honor Nicholas Garry, director, and later deputy governor, of the Hudson's Bay Company; Fort Garry, now Winnipeg, Canada.
- Oregon State Univ. campus: grove of old trees south of Dryden Hall on 35th S, younger tree on the west side of the 30th St. "parkway" east of the grove.
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