Tanoak
Notholithocarpus densiflorus
Tanoak is an evolutionary link between oaks and chestnuts; it produces acorns like an oak, but has upright, insect-pollinated flowers like a chestnut.
- Scientific name
- Notholithocarpus densiflorus
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Fagales › Fagaceae › Notholithocarpus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- decreasing
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Mixed evergreen forests, redwood forests, and coastal woodlands
- Diet
- Autotrophic (photosynthesis)
- Range
- California, USA, Oregon, USA
- Size
- 20 to 45 meters tall, with trunk diameters up to 1.5 meters
- Lifespan
- 150 to 300 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Sudden Oak Death (caused by the pathogen Phytophthora ramorum), severe wildfires, and climate change.
- Safe to approach?
- Completely harmless to touch. A majestic tree providing excellent shade. If harvesting acorns, be aware they are extremely bitter and toxic due to high tannin content unless properly leached with water. To protect these trees, never transport firewood outside local areas, as this spreads the devastating Sudden Oak Death pathogen.
Notholithocarpus densiflorus , commonly known as the tanoak or tanbark-oak , is an evergreen tree in the beech family (Fagaceae), native to the western United States, in California as far south as the Transverse Ranges, north to southwest Oregon, and east in the Sierra Nevada. It can reach 40 m (130 ft) tall (though 15–25 m (49–82 ft) is more usual) in the California Coast Ranges, and can have a trunk diameter of 60–190 cm (24–75 in).
Photo: Skyler K, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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