Canyon live oak
One tree that looks like two, and an acorn cup that settles the argument in about ten seconds.
In brief
Quercus chrysolepis, Fagaceae.
- Evergreen tree
- Native to California, Oregon, Arizona and Baja California
- Flowers April and May
- Fruit an acorn, two years to ripen
Where it grows
Canyons and slopes through the foothills and the mountains.
When it blooms
Catkins in April and May, and easy to miss entirely.
Seed and fruit
An acorn sitting in a shallow, thick cup smothered in golden scurf. Nothing else in California has that cup, which is why the tree is also called golden-cup oak.
Here
This is the tree that spent years looking like a third species. Young and shrubby growth carries holly-spined leaves; the mature crown carries smooth-edged ones, and often both are on the same tree. Two plant-identification apps read the spiny growth as a different oak. The leaf underside is dull and pale rather than glossy, and the acorn cup is conclusive.
By Yggdrasil Springs
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