Quercus vacciniifolia
Common name:
Huckleberry Oak
Pronunciation:
KWER-kus vak-sin-i-FO-li-a
Family:
Fagaceae
Genus:
Type:
Broadleaf
Native to (or naturalized in) Oregon:
Yes
- Evergreen shrub, prostrate or low growing, spreading, dense, to about 1 ft (30 cm) tall and 4 ft (120 cm) wide. Leaves simple, alternate, leathery, oblong to elliptical, 1-3.5 cm long and 0.7-1.5 cm wide, flat, thin, leathery, base slightly rounded to acute, tip rounded, margin entire occasionally with a few teeth, upper surface whitish green, glabrous or slightly pubescent, lower surface dull gray-green, glabrous or sparsely pubescent. Fruit (acorn) mostly solitary, rounded to egg-shaped, brown, 8-17 mm long, apex acute, cup enclosing about 25% of the nut.
- Sun or light shade
- Hardy to USDA Zone Native to southwest Oregon, California, and Nevada. Found on dry ridges, steep slopes, and rocky areas from the coniferous zone to near treeline of mountains. Typical high-elevation populations in the Sierra Nevada of California can be distinguished from all shrubby forms of Quercus chrysolepis by the absence of glandular trichomes and by thin cups with small nut-attachment scars. At lower elevations in northern California and southwestern Oregon, secondary contact with Q . chrysolepis has resulted in the formation of hybrids (Flora of North America, www.efloras.org/).
- vacciniifolia: leaves (folia) reminiscent of some vaccinium, e.g., Vaccinium parvifolium, Red Huckleberry.
Click image to enlarge
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small shrub and leafy shoots
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plant habit
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leaves
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leaves, comparison
