Island Oak 



3" 



small, close reddish gray or brown scales. The twigs are stiff and slender, hairy 

 at first, becoming smooth or nearly so, and brown or light gray. The winter buds 

 are broadly ovoid to oval, sharp-pointed, about 3 mm. long and brown. The 

 leaves are oblong, elliptic to lanceolate, 2.5 to 10 cm. long, sharp and stiff-pointed, 

 heart-shaped, rounded or 

 wedge-shaped at the base; the 

 thick, revolute margin is usually 

 entire, sometimes toothed with 

 spine-tipped teeth; they are 

 thick and leathery, light yellow- 

 ish green and smooth, with a 

 sunken yellowish midrib above, 

 yellowish woolly or finally 

 whitish and smooth beneath; 

 they persist for three or four 

 years; the leaf-stalks are slen- 

 der, grooved, yellow, about i 

 cm. long. The flowers appear 

 in May and June, the staminate 

 in clustered slender, hairy catkins 5 to 10 cm. long, their hairy calyx 5 to 7-lobed, 

 often red tipped; stamens 6 to 8, exserted; anthers sharp-pointed, smooth and yel- 

 low. The pistillate flowers are sessile, solitary, or rarely spicate ; involucral scales 

 woolly; styles short, broad, spreading and light red. The fruit, ripening in the 

 autumn of the second season, is usually soHtary, short-stalked or sessile; nut oval 

 or ovoid, 12 to 50 mm. long, hght brown; shell thick and pale-hairy inside; cup 

 hemispheric, top-shaped or deeply saucer-shaped, 4 cm. wide or less, very thick, 

 brown within, its thick rim covered by short pointed very hairy scales. 



The wood is hard, ver}^- tough and strong, close-grained, brownish; its specific 

 gravity is about 0.85. It is very hard to cut and work, but is used to a limited 

 extent for wagons and farm implements, pack saddles and tool handles. 



It is also called Cahfomia Hve oak, Canyon Hve oak. Black live oak. Canyon 

 oak. Live oak. Iron oak. Hickory oak. Golden cup oak. Golden leaf oak, Val- 

 paraiso oak. Blue oak, and Maul oak. 



Fig. 263. White Live Oak. 



29. ISLAND OAK Quercus tomentella Engelmann 



This very local tree is only known from the islands along the coast of southern 

 California, and on Guadeloupe island further south. It is known to reach a height 

 of 18 meters, with a trunk diameter of 6 dm. 



The branches spread into a beautiful round-topped tree. The bark is thin 

 and broken into large close reddish brown scales. The twigs are rather slender, 

 quite densely stellate-hairy at first, finally becoming smooth or nearly so, and 

 light reddish brown or orange. The winter buds are ovoid, sharp or blunt- 



