161. QlJERCUS CHRYSOLEPIS MAUL OAK, HlCKORY OAK. 37 



USES. The wood is but little used, excepting for fuel. The 

 acorns which are borne in profusion were formerly an important article 

 of food with the California Indians, who gathered them in large quan- 

 tities. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES are not reported of this species. 



161. QUERCUS CHRYSOLEPIS, LIEBM. 



MAUL OAK, THICK-CUP LIVE OAK, HICKORY OAK, CANON LIVE OAK. 

 Ger., Schlagel-Eiche; Fr., Chene de Maillet; Sp., Roble de mazo. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves persistent, thick, coriaceous, oblong-ovate to- 

 elliptical, acute, generally rounded but sometimes truncate or cordate at base, 1 to 

 4 in. long, with thickened entire or serrate-dentate margin with few or many teeth 

 tipped with short spines (both forms being often found together on the same tree), 

 fulvous-tomentose at first but finally smooth and shining above and pale and gla- 

 brous, or nearly so, beneath; petioles yellowish \ in. or less in length; winter- 

 buds about \ in. long with puberulous scales closely imbricated; branchlets at first 

 fulvous-tomentose but finally more or less glabrous. Flowers appear in May or 

 June, the staminate in slender toinentose aments 2-4 inches long, calyx yellowish, 

 pubescent and with 5-7 broad-ovate acute lobes; stamens with slender filaments 

 and large oblong acute anthers. Pistillate flowers sessile, or nearly so, or rarely 

 in few-flowered spikes; involucral scales broad-ovate, tomentose; stigmas sessile, 

 red. Fruit, acorns maturing the second year, usually solitary, sessile or nearly 

 so; nut oblong to ovoid acute or rounded and puberulous at apex, light brown 

 and from | to nearly 2 in. in length, shell thick, tomentose within, abortive ovules 

 lateral, scattered over the side of the seed; cup variable, saucer-shaped or hemi- 

 spherical, thin or sometimes very thick, covered with hoary pubescent, closely 

 appressed, and often rather obscure scales. 



Subspecies vaccinifolia, Eng., is an alpine form reduced to a shrub with small, 

 mostly entire leaves scarcely an inch in length, small acorns with thin, shallow 

 cups and acutely pointed nuts not more than - in. in length. 



Subspecies Palmeri, near the boundary line, between California and Lower 

 California, is a shrub or small tree with very rigid leaves spinose-dentate, the 

 pistillate flowers sometimes long-pedunculate, leaves and acorns fulvous-lepidote, 

 nut? 1 to 1 in. long, ovate acute and cups shallow and thin. 



(The specific name, chrysolepis, is from the Greek, xpvtioS, gold, and AfTTzS, 

 scale, alluding to the yellowish scale-like tomentum with which the young leaves 

 and new growths, and especially the acorn cups, are furnished.) 



This Oak in the sheltered canons of the coast ranges and among the 

 foot-hills of the Sierra Nevadas, where the conditions of growth are 

 most favorable, is almost unsurpassed in beauty and majesty of stat- 

 ure. There it sometimes attains the height of 100 ft. (30 m.), with a 

 trunk 8 or 10 ft in diameter, with wide-reaching branches and droop- 

 ing branchlets forming a top 150 ft. across, but such trees represent 

 an extreme development. It is usually not more than half the above 

 size, and high on the mountains is found as a mere shrub, forming 

 almost impenetrable thickets. The bark of the trunk is of a light 

 grayish-brown color, flaking off with age in friable, thinnish scales. 



HABITAT. From southern Oregon southward, along the coast 

 ranges and along the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada Mountains 



