interior live oak
Quercus wislizeni
Its acorns were a primary food staple for many Native Californian tribes, who leached out the bitter tannins before grinding them into flour.
- Scientific name
- Quercus wislizeni
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Magnoliopsida › Fagales › Fagaceae › Quercus
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- forest
- Habitat
- Oak woodlands, chaparral, and mixed evergreen forests, typically on dry slopes and flats.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (photosynthesis utilizing sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide).
- Range
- California, USA, Baja California, Mexico
- Size
- Height of 10 to 22 meters (33-72 feet) with a broad, rounded canopy.
- Lifespan
- 150 to 200 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Wildfires, sudden oak death, habitat fragmentation from urban development, and severe drought.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. You can safely approach and touch this tree. Do not carve into the bark or break branches, as this exposes the tree to pathogens. Watch for falling limbs during hot summer months due to sudden branch drop.
Quercus wislizeni , known by the common name interior live oak , is an evergreen oak, highly variable and often shrubby, found in many areas of California in the United States continuing south into northern Baja California in Mexico. It generally occurs in foothills, being most abundant in the lower elevations of the Sierra Nevada, but also widespread in the Pacific Coast Ranges ─ where since 1980 it has been known as a separate species Quercus parvula ─...
Photo: Marc Whitaker, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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