298 



TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



47. Quercus lobata Nee. White Oak. Valley Oak. 



Leaves oblong to obovate, deeply 7-11 obliquely lobed, rounded at the narrow apex, 

 narrow and cuneate or broad and rounded or cordate at base, the lateral lobes obovate, 

 obtuse or retuse, or ovate and rounded, thin, 2|'-3' or rarely 4' long, 1/-2' wide, dark green 

 and pubescent above, pale and pubescent below, with a stout pale midrib, and conspicuous 

 yellow veins running to the slightly thickened and revolute margins; petioles stout, hir- 

 sute, \'-\' in length. Flowers: staminate in hirsute aments 2'-3' long; calyx light yellow 

 and divided into 6 or 8 acute pubescent ciliate lobes; pistillate solitary, sessile or rarely in 

 elongated few-flowered spikes, their involucral scales broadly ovate, acute, coated with 



Fig. 273 



dense pale tomentum, about as long as the narrow calyx-lobes. Fruit solitary or in pairs, 

 nearly sessile; nut conic, elongated, rounded or pointed at apex, lj'-2j' long, bright 

 green and lustrous when fully grown, becoming bright chestnut-brown, usually inclosed 

 for about one third its length in the cup-shaped cup coated with pale tomentum on the 

 outer surface, usually irregularly tuberculate below, all but the much-thickened basal 

 scales elongated into acute ciliate chestnut-brown free tips longest on the upper scales and 

 forming a short fringe-like border to the rim of the cup. 



A tree, often 100 feet high, with a trunk generally 3-4, but sometimes 10 in diameter, 

 divided near the ground or usually 20-30 above it into great limbs spreading at wide 

 angles and forming a broad head of slender branches hanging gracefully in long sprays and 

 sometimes sweeping the ground; less frequently with upper limbs growing almost at right 

 angles with the trunk and forming a narrow rigid head of variously contorted erect or 

 pendant branches, and slender branchlets coated at first with short silky canescent pubes- 

 cence, ashy gray, light reddish brown, or pale orange-brown and slightly pubescent in their 

 first winter, becoming glabrous and lighter colored during their second year. Winter- 

 buds ovoid, acute, usually about I' long, with orange-brown pubescent scales scarious and 

 frequently ciliate on the margins. Bark f'-H' thick and covered by small loosely ap- 

 pressed light gray scales slightly tinged with orange or brown, becoming at the base of old 

 trees frequently 5 '-6' thick and divided by longitudinal fissures into broad flat ridges 

 broken horizontally into short plates. Wood hard, fine-grained, brittle, light brown, with 

 thin lighter colored sapwood; used only for fuel. 



Distribution. Valleys of western California between the Sierra Nevada and the ocean 

 from the valley of the Trinity River to Kern and Los Angeles (rare) Counties; most 

 abundant and forming open groves in the central valleys of the state. 



