California black oak
| California black oak | ||||||||||||
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California black oak ( Quercus kelloggii ) |
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| Quercus kelloggii | ||||||||||||
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The California Black Oak ( Quercus kelloggii ) is a plant from the genus of oak ( Quercus ). It is native to western North America .
description
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Appearance, bark and leaves
The Californian black oak grows as a deciduous tree , which normally reaches heights of about 10 to 25 meters, in exceptional cases up to 36 meters and trunk diameters of up to 1 meter and sometimes more. Single specimens can reach an age of up to 500 years. It typically forms a rounded treetop on a short trunk.
The bark is still smooth on young trunks, cracked and dark brown to black-gray on older trees. The bark of the branches is red-brown and bare. The coconut-brown terminal buds are ovate with a length of 4 to 10 mm; they are bare or the bud scales are ciliate at the edge.
The alternate and spirally arranged leaves on the branches are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. The bald to densely hairy petiole is 10 to 60 mm long. The simple, with a length of 6 to 20 cm and a width of 4 to 14 cm egg-shaped or broadly elliptical to obovate leaf blade has five to eleven leaf lobes with deep indentations and the leaf edge has 13 to 45 points. The main nerves emerge on both leaf surfaces.
Generative characteristics
The flowering time is in spring, depending on the altitude between mid-March and mid-May. The Californian black oak is single-sexed ( monoecious ). The male inflorescences, which are 3.5 to 7.5 cm in length, hang on annual twigs in the leaf axils. In each male flower there are five to nine stamens with light green stamens and bright red anthers. On this year's shoot there are one or two to seven female flowers in the leaf axils on a short stem. The female flowers have dark red stigmas.
With a height of 1.3 to 2.7 cm and a diameter of 2 to 2.8 cm bowl-shaped to deep bowl-shaped fruit cup (cupula) is hairy on the outside and covers half to two thirds of the glans. The downy, hairy acorn ( nut fruit ) that remains on the tree over the winter is elongated to broadly ellipsoidal with a length of 2.1 to 3.4 cm and a diameter of 1.4 to 2.2 cm.
The number of chromosomes is 2n = 24.
Occurrence
The homeland of the California black oak is in western North America in the coastal mountain regions of the US states of Oregon and California , reaching south to the Mexican border. The home area is about 3,620 km².
It thrives on slopes and valleys in the hill country and mountains at altitudes between 300 and 2400 meters. Drier soils are preferred as a location.
Botanical history and systematics
This plant species was apparently first collected from Sonoma ( California ) in 1846 , but initially without being given a botanical name. In 1857 John Strong Newberry named it Quercus kelloggii in Pacif. Railr. Rep. , 6, 28, 89, f. 6, honoring Albert Kellogg , an early California botanist and physician. In 1878 Californian black oak acorns were brought to England from San Francisco .
Synonyms for Quercus kelloggii Newb. are: Quercus californica (Torrey) Cooper or Quercus tinctoria var. californica Torrey. Quercus kelloggii belongs to the Lobatae section in the genus Quercus .
Quercus kelloggii forms hybrids with Quercus agrifolia (= Q. × ganderi CBWolf) and Q. wislizenii (= Q. × morehus Kellogg).
use
The wood is used, among other things, to manufacture furniture and pallets and as firewood .
The acorns were an important source of food for native California Indians; for many animal species they are an extremely important source of food in California to this day.
swell
- Kevin C. Nixon: Quercus in the Flora of North America , Volume 3, 1997: Quercus kelloggii - Online. (Section description, distribution and systematics)
- Philip M. McDonald: Quercus kelloggii in Silvics Manual , Volume 2: Hardwoods at USDA Forest Service Northeastern Area . (Section description)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Kevin C. Nixon: Quercus in the Flora of North America , Volume 3, 1997: Quercus kelloggii - Online.
- ↑ Philip M. McDonald: Quercus kelloggii
