2A. MISC. PUBLICATION 101, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
Wavyleaf oak ranges from western Texas to southern Colorado and 
Arizona and is usually a low straggling bush 3 to 10 feet high, but 
in mountain canyons of southeastern Arizona is occasionally a tree _ 
30 feet high. Its leaves are persistent and it is usually regarded as 
a fair to fairly good cattle feed, especially in winter and spring. 
Because of its great abundance, it is sometimes one of the most im- 
portant forage plants of its locality. Chapline reports it as good 
all-year goat feed, but especially good in spring. 
Netleaf oak (Y. reticulata), often called Mexican white oak, is 
usually a sprawling shin oak 2 to 4 feet high in the United States, © 
ranging from southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona ~ 
south into northern Mexico, where it becomes a large tree. It is 
local but common near summits of dry mountains, especially on south 
slopes and frequently in association with garrya, manzanita, and 
mountain-mahogany, and is a fair high summer range browse. 
Sadler oak (Q. sadlertana), sometimes called Oregon chestnut oak 
and of interest as the only far-western chestnut-leaved oak, is usually 
a low shrub 2 to 4 feet high, but occasionally reaches a height of 8 
feet, and forms dense thickets in white fir forests between about 
4,000 and 9,000 feet in southwestern Oregon and northwestern Cali- 
fornia. It is of local importance as a watershed protector, is a poor 
to fair browse, and, as the local names “ deer oak” and “bear oak ” 
intimate, its sweet and edible acorns are much relished, not only by 
wild life, but by domestic livestock as well. 
Intermediate Oaks (Subgenus Protobalanus) 
This is a small group of five western species, of which probably 
only three have any particular range significance. 
Canyon live oak (Q. chrysolepis), the oldest American oak, often 
called canyon oak, golden-cup oak, and maul oak, occurs in canyons 
and on ridges, between. 1,500 and 7,000 feet, from southern Oregon to 
Lower California. Its wood is useful but, aside perhaps from its 
acorns, its browse value in general is low, though the evergreen 
habit—especially with the entire-leaved forms of the tree—make it 
a useful browse, especially for goats and cattle, on certain ranges 
where abundant and at times when better feed is scarce or absent. 
Huckleberry oak (Q. vaccinifolia), regarded by some botanists as 
a subspecies or variety of canyon live oak, is a shrub 2 to 6 feet high, 
often forming extensive thickets between about 4,000 and 9,000 feet 
in northern California and southwestern Oregon. It is valuable 
as a protective covering on exposed slopes. Cattle and sheep eat the 
acorns readily, but the foliage is worthless or of low palatability. 
Wilcox oak (Q. wilcoxii), ranging from New Mexico to southern 
Nevada and south into northern Mexico, is not much more than 
a southeastern variety of canyon live oak; it is one of the commonest 
shrubs or small trees of the foothills in the woodland type, and 
merits mention here only because of its abundance, its evergreen 
hollylike leaves not normally being acceptable to grazing animals. 
Red (or Black) Oaks (Subgenus Erythrobalanus) e 
Red (or black) oaks are as a rule inferior as browse to white oaks, 
and their acorns are more bitter and less palatable, but two western 
