Black oak

In brief

Quercus kelloggii, Fagaceae.

- Deciduous tree, to 25 m
- Native from Oregon to Baja California
- Flowers April and May
- Fruit an acorn, two years to ripen

Where it grows

Foothill and montane woodland from southern Oregon to Baja California, and the most widespread deciduous oak in the Sierra Nevada.

When it blooms

It leafs out late, in April, in a pink-bronze flush that turns green over two weeks, and drops in November.

Seed and fruit

A large acorn in a deep cup, taking two years to ripen. It was a staple human food across this whole range, and it is still the most important wild food for the animals here.

Here

The standing dead trees in almost every photograph on this site are black oaks that the Butte Fire killed in 2015, and they are what the Sentinels passage is about. The species is not gone: a black oak that burns to the ground will resprout from the root crown, so the ring of young stems around a dead trunk is usually the same tree starting again. Photographed doing exactly that on August 28, 2026.