62 American Midland Naturalist Monograph No. 4 



long, % to 1% inches wide; flowers tiny, without petals, borne in slender 

 clusters at the ends of the branches; nuts brown, 1 to 3 in a spiny bur-like 

 covering similar to the chestnut bur; the spines slender, stiff, often 1/2 irich long. 

 Occurrence. — crater lake, common in the ponderosa pine woods: slopes around 

 Crater Lake; Union Peak. LASSEN: Drakesbad, 5,000 feet; lower Loop Highway. 

 YOSEMITE, common, 5,500 to 6,500 feet: Crane Flat road; 4'/2 miles northwest of El 

 Portal ; Illilouette Creek. KINGS CANYON : Ouzel Basin. SEQUOIA, common, 6,000 to 

 8,500 feet: trail to Alta Peak; ridge east of Panther Peak; l/i mile west of Little 

 Baldy; west side of Black Rock Pass; near Quinn ranger station. 



2. Golden Chinquapin, Giant Chinquapin (Castanopsis chryso- 

 phylla (Dougl.) DC), fig. 17. — Similar to California Chinquapin, but the 

 plants more erect and usually tree-like, often thicket-forming; leaves more 

 pointed, folded and trough-like. 



Occurrence. — OLYMPIC: occurs along Hood Canal east of park. CRATER lake, rare: 

 lower Redblanket Canyon near southwest corner of park. 



Oak (Quercus L.) 



The oaks, among the best known of the western woody plants, are easily 

 recognized by their characteristic acorn fruit which consists of a leathery- 

 shelled nut set in a scaly cup-like involucre. The nuts, which are very nutri- 

 tious, are eaten by many forms of wildlife such as squirrels, grouse, wood- 

 peckers, deer and bear. They were also a valuable source of food for the 

 Indians who gathered and stored them for winter use. The kernels were 

 prepared by grinding them into meal and leaching out the tannin with water. 

 The meal was then made into bread or mush, furnishing in many localities 

 the chief winter food. The leaves of certain of the species, particularly of the 

 large-leaved white oaks, furnish good forage for deer. 



The group as a whole may be divided into two sections, the white oaks 

 and the black. The latter are ordinarily evergreen, with usually dark colored 

 bark. The leaves are thickish and often spine-toothed, and the acorns do not 

 usually mature until the second year. The white oaks, on the other hand, 

 are not evergreen, the bark is usually light colored, the leaves without prickles, 

 and the acorns require only one year to mature. As a rule the white oaks 

 furnish better forage for animals and the acorns are sweeter and more palatable. 



Field Guide to the Species 



Leaves 2 to 5 inches long, shiny green above, deeply and coarsely toothed, or lobed 

 to the middle, the lobes or teeth rounded. (White Oaks). 



Leaves dull green below, at first finely hairy, becoming smooth; occurs in parks 



of the Southwest 1. Q. Camheli. 



Leaves grayish or rusty and often softly hairy below; occurs in Pacific slope 



parks 2. Q. Carryianci var. 



Leaves I/4 to 2 inches long, the margins toothed (often spine-toothed) or not toothed, 

 often wavy or crisped (Black Oaks). 



Leaves pale or rusty-yellowish below with fine hairs. 



Leaves mostly not toothed; occurs in California parks 3. Q. vaccinifolia. 



