FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 295 



Tolerance. — Appears to be tolerant of but little shade. 



Reproduction. — Abundant seeder; apparently seeds nearly every year. Seedlings 

 moderately abundant in exposed mineral soil of pockets where seed is well covered by 

 washing or other accidents. 



Canyon Live Oak. 

 Quercus chrysolepis Liebmann. 



DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTICS. 



Canyon live oak is an evergreen oak, with the soft, scaly trunk bark of a 

 white oak. Very variable in size, from low, dense chaparral brush to a 

 wide-spreading tree 30 or 40 feet high, with huge horizontal limbs and a short, 

 thick, clear trunk from 30 to GO or more inches in diameter. It develops 

 the latter form as single individuals in open situations, but on narrow, 

 sheltered canyon bottoms and sides it grows tall (rarely straight) and slender, 

 with 15 or 20 feet of clear trunk and a small crown ; the stems have very 

 little taper. 



Year-old twigs are dark reddish brown, more or less densely covered with 

 fine woolly hairs, sometimes nearly or quite smooth ; very woolly when young. 



Mature leaves (figs. 132 to 134) of one season's growth are thick, leathery, 

 light yellowish-green in color, and smooth on the top sides ; beneath they are 

 covered by a yellowish down.. Later they lose neariy all their woolliness and 

 become very pale bluish green beneath. Leaves of each season's growth 

 persist from 3 to 4 years. Various forms and sizes of leaves are produced by 

 trees of different ages. Leaves of large trees usually have very few or no mar- 

 ginal teeth (fig. 133), while young trees, and especially vigorous shoots, have very 

 spiny-bordered leaves (fig. 134). Acorns are matured at the end of the second 

 season — a notable exception to the rule among oaks which, like this species; 

 have the sort of wood characteristic of white oak. Acorns (figs. 132, 133), with- 

 out visible stems or with very short ones, vary exceedingly in the size and form 

 of their nuts and cups, but agree more or less in having nuts of a pale chestnut 

 color (downy at the point). The cups, rather thin (figs. 132, 133) or very 

 thick, are densely covered with a whitish or yellowish short wool, which is 

 so dense in some instances as to obscure the cup scales. This yellow coating 

 has given the tree the name of "golden-cup oak" in parts of its range. 



A well-marked variety is Quercus chrysolepis palmeri Engelmann, of the 

 southern boundary of California. This has very thick, stiff, wide leaves, circu- 

 lar in outline (fig. 135, a), with prominent, large, spine-pointed teeth: acorns 

 usually sharply conical, often rather long stemmed, and with very shallow, 

 thin, sometimes thickish cups (fig. 135, a). Commonly it is shrub-like, from 10 

 to 20 feet high, and forms dense thickets. The remarkably distinct form of this 

 variety's acorns, together with the fact that the female flowers are often borne 

 on a long stem, indicate that this tree should be considered a distinct species. 



Another distinct variety is Quercus chrysolepis vaccinifolia (Kellogg) 

 EDngelm., a low-massed shrub of very high altitudes, commonly called " huckle- 

 lierry oak," from the resemblance of its small (three-fourths of an inch to 1 inch 

 long), sparingly or indistinctly toothed, usually smooth leaves (tig. 135, b). 

 Acorns are from five-eighths to seven-eighths of an inch long, pointed, and with 

 very thin, shallow cups. This variety is exceedingly important for the effective 

 low chaparral cover it produces on the highest slopes and ridges of the Sierras. 



Wood of canyon live oak is of better commercial quality than that of any 

 other species of oak in its range. It is of a light brown color, variable in grain 

 from fine to coarse, very heavy, stiff, and exceedingly tough and strong. Its 

 strength is well known to mountain freight teamsters, who prize wagon tongues 

 and whiffle-trees made from it very highly. The wood is suitable for wheel 

 stock and the woodwork of farm implements. 



