Quercus douglasii Hook. & Arn.

California from 100 to 1500 m ;

5-18 m; trunk 25-40 cm in diameter, most often single; open, rounded crown;

5-8 x 2-4 cm; deciduous; stiff; oblong or elliptic; apex obtuse; base broadly cuneate, sometimes truncate; margins somewhat wavy, entire, or shallowly 4-5 lobed, sometimes coarsely dentate; dark blue green above, dull, glabrous or with scattered stellate hairs; pale yellow green, with small, stellate trichomes beneath; petiole 0.3-1.2 cm, blue green, pubescent;

March to April;

acorn solitary or paired, 2-3 cm long, ovoid or elliptic, elongate (1-1.6 cm wide) , sessile or nearly so; very shallow cup covered with smal, warty, appressed scales; matures in 1 year; kernel sweet;

quite hardy; prefers sunny sites and calcareous, dry, rocky soils; lives up to 200 years;

– Camus : n° 258 ; – Sub-genus Quercus, Section Quercus, subsection Dumosae; – Resembles Q.lobata (leaves much more lobed, without blue color); resembles too Q.x alvordiana (leaves more leathery, smaller, semi-evergreen); – Wood hard, heavy; – Discovered by David Douglas (1798-1834), Scottish botanist; – Hybridizes with Q.lobata (= x jolonensis ) , Q.garryana (= x eplingii ), and Q.john-tuckeri (= x alvordiana )