B117 



(leaf 2) 



wild hog, bear, and wild turkey, as well as many of the smaller 

 mammals. These particular acorns are high in fats and oils and are 

 very nutritious. In ancient times acorns were a valuable source of 

 food in Greece and France and are still important as food in parts 

 of the Mediterranean region and possibly elsewhere. The acorns of 

 many species were used as food by the Indians, who ground them 

 into a powdery meal and leached out the tannin responsible for the 

 bitter taste with water or wood ash. 4 This meal was subsequently 

 converted into very wholesome and nutritious bread, mush, and 

 soup, and in some localities was the Indian's chief winter food. 5 

 The Indians also made a decoction by boiling the bark of the oak 

 roots which was used for bowel trouble, especially in children. 



Gambel oak with brief notes on closely related species, California 

 black oak (Q. kelloggii), and shrub live oak (Q. twrbinella), are 

 treated separately in this handbook. Other important species de- 

 serving mention follow under the three divisions of Trelease's classi- 

 fication of oaks. 



White Oaks 



Arizona white oak (Q. arizo'nica), one of the larger southwestern 

 oaks, is a. tree with crooked branches, light gray, ridged bark, and 

 dull, evergreen leaves. It is one of the most common oaks in south- 

 ern New Mexico, Arizona, and adjacent Mexico in the juniper-pinon 

 and oak-woodland types. The tree is valuable chiefly for its shade, 

 watershed protection, and soil-building properties. The acorns are 

 utilized by livestock and game animals, but the leaves furnish poor 

 forage and are utilized only slightly, except in emergency. 



California scrub oak (Q. dumo'sa), a shrubby species from 2 to 

 8 feet high, has dark evergreen leaves with margins varying from 

 entire to sharply toothed. Because of its abundance as chaparral 

 on the dry foothills and slopes of the Coast Range and Sierras of 

 California, it is valuable in watershed protection. The low palata- 

 bility of this oak is partially attributable to the leathery texture and 

 exceptionally high tannin content 3 of its leaves. 



Garry oak (Q. garrya'nd), the Oregon white oak of the lumber 

 trade and sometimes called Oregon oak, is a Pacific tree or shrub 

 ranging from British Columbia to California, and is the only native 

 oak in the State of Washington. As a tree, it attains a maximum 

 height of about 90 feet and is one of the few important western 

 timber oaks. It is the most palatable of the Pacific oaks, the leaves 

 being poor to fair forage for cattle and fairly good for sheep; the 

 acorns are highly palatable. Brewer oak (Q. oerstedia'na, syn. 

 Q. brew'eri, Q. gan^yafna brew'eri) is hardly more than a shrubby 

 form of Garry oak and grows abundantly in almost pure stands 

 often too dense for effective utilization. It is an important local, 



3 See footnote on preceding page. 



4 [Anderson, B.] WHITE-OAK ACORNS AS FOOD. Mo. Bot. Gard. Bull. 12 : 32-33, illus. 

 1924. 



5 Chesnut, V. K. PLANTS USED BY THE INDIANS OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA. 

 U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Bot, Contrib. U. S. Natl. Herbarium 7 : 295-422, illus. 1902. 



