Quercus virginiana - Southern Live Oak

The Southern Live Oak is a nice medium sized broad spreading tree commonly planted as a street tree in SC county. Usually reaching 30' and potentially wider than tall. Seems to be a nice tree. I guess I would be more excited if we had some massive ones like in the south where they can be 100' tall and 150' wide with massive trunks and covered with  lichens. 

Leaves alternate, simple, 1-1/2 to 5" long, variable shaped, from obovate to oblanceolate to elliptical to ovate, just like an oak to be difficult to pin down. Margins can be entire, or lightly spinose but usually rolled under, dark glossy green upper surface lighter to pubescent lower surface. Trees may experience a very short period of deciduousness prior to putting out the new leaves. It happens about the time the buds start to swell.

Male and female flowers separated on same plant, males in long catkins, females small and reddish color some distance from the end of the stem.

Acorns are dark brown, glossy, elliptical shaped 3/4 to 1" long, in clusters.

Bark with reddish brown color in between the shallow squared plates.

Misidentification:
Perhaps Q. ilex due to the non "normal" oak leaf, but these are longer and narrower leaves.

Location:
Capitola
Gross Rd and Soquel Ave intersection - frontage road off 41st


Santa Cruz
7th Ave lots along the side of the road.
2801 Soquel Ave in front of Big Creek Lumber
Capitola Rd in live oak

Soquel
4800 Bridge St - corner of Main

Quercus wislizeni - Interior Live Oak

A minor variation of the Coast Live Oak, the interior live oak is found growing with the CLO and can be difficult to distinguish. Its a medium sized tree, usually single stemmed with the main branches assending but can reach the ground if very old. Branches very stout. (Spelling, i or ii?). 

I didn't mention how large they can get, but I encountered these picking out a Christmas Tree at Crest Farms. Listed as growing to 75' and from the looks of it wider than tall.

Leaves are evergreen, simple, ovate to oblong elliptical, 1 1/2- 2" long, margins either entire or spines, dark glossy green and lacking hair of any sort on the tops. Literature states that the leaves are flat, but from those I have looked at many seem to be revolute like the second photo. It might be an age thing, with older leaves being revolute.

Flowers are monoecious, males in 2-3" long catkins while the females are small, looking like nothing but little red strings borne in the axils of the leaves further down the stem.

Fruit is an acorn. 1-2" long, narrow and matures in 2 years (18 months). Stem showing 2 years of acorns, on the left side of the stem you can see immature 2nd year fruit and on the right you can see young flowers turing into fruit.

Mature acorns.

Quercus agrifolia on the left, Q. wislizeni on the right.

Bark on young stems gray, older stems are irregularly furrowed into small plates. Bark is different than Q. agrifolia. 

Misidentification:
Q. agrifolia - bark is different, acorns are long and skinny compared to Q. agrifolia and they take longer to mature. I also look at the foliage.

Location:
Aptos:
Cabrillo College, near the west side of Building 500.
7339 Mesa Dr. as seen in picture at the top.

Santa Cruz
Wilder State Park, intermixed with Q. agrifolia.
Empire Grade - Crest Farms - not really in the front yard, but if you go during the holiday season you will see the same ones as I.

Lithocarpus densiflorus - Tan Bark Oak

The tan bark oak is not a real oak, as you can see by the genus name, and yet it has acorns. I have not always understood this but I am not an expert taxonomist. This beautiful native evergreen tree grows pretty tall, 40-90' depending on its location. In the shade can be very narrow but grown in the sun can have a rounded dense crown. I have noticed all those growing in a typical forested setting have a very straight unbranched trunk. The lateral branches have a self shedding habit making for a tall straight trunk.  A tree in Monterey county reported to be over 200 feet tall with a trunk over 4.5 feet.

This is the tree at my neighbors house, its the one in the middle.

These are in Nicene Marks growing as strong single trunks.

The evergreen leaves are alternate, simple, 3-6" long, maybe 1.5" wide, oblong to elliptic with sharply serrated margins that are often revoluted as well. Generally dark green but also bluish green on the upper surface while the lower surface is covered with gold tomemtum. The petioles and young stems are also covered with the same hair. Leaves last 3-4 years before falling.

Stems are stout and round, covered with dense pubescence for the first or second year, reddish brown.

Flowers in long upright spikes emerging late June and into late July 2-5" long. Females in same inflorescence as the males but at the base. Which is why they are not in the genus Quercus. Flowers resemble that of a Chestnut. Read somewhere that it is actually believed to be a cross between an oak and a chestnut. 

Acorn, cup shaggy when young, 1-1.5" long with burry caps and a short thick stalk.  Used extensively by native americans. Mature in 18 months.

Bark is really pretty nice. Gray on the surface with deep furrows of black. Add in the really cool looking branch collars and the self shedding habit and you can see why.

Arthur Lee Jacobson mentions a Cutleaf Tanbark oak, Lithocarpus densiflorus f. attenuato-dentatus.
New name alert: Notholithocarpus densiflorus


Misidentification:
An oak because of the acorns and leaves. I cant think of many oaks with really heavy pubescence on the stems and leaf undersides. They also bloom mid July.

Location:
Aptos
406 Simple Ave, along with many other native trees, including Sequoia, Aesculus, Arbutus, Quercus, and shrubs Toyon, Filberts, Arctostaphylos.

Quercus rubra - Red Oak

The beautiful red oak, so variable, yet so distinct in appearance. Beautiful rounded shape, beautiful fall colors and handsome foliage. The red oak is one of a half dozen  "red oaks" that you might encounter so we will look at several of the common ones here in Santa Cruz.

The red oak is a large deciduous tree, 60-75', often with multiple leaders developing a rounded crown. However in youth it may be rounded or pyramidal with a central leader, as I mentioned, quite variable especially when young.

Leaves are deciduous, simple, alternate, obovate, deeply lobed, with bristle tipped lobes. Lobes extend about half way to the midrib. Leaves are 6-8" long. 

Fruit is an acorn, 3/4-1" long, with a small cap. Seem to produce large quantities of acorns around here.

Male flowers are in catkins. Females are found in small clusters further back from the tip. Male catkins are not seen in the winter like Birches.

Stems are stout, reddish to green color, glabrous. Buds are clustered, imbricate, 1/4-1/3" long and sharp pointed.

Fall color is beautiful. Reds followed by browns.

Misidentification: Just about any other pinnately lobed oak. Especially one you dont know is around. Leaf size is important, so is the shallow lobes, and the longish more rounded buds. The tree shape is also important as they tend to be more rounded than other oaks.

Locations:
Santa Cruz, Corner of Cedar and Walnut
511 Caledonia St
541 Buena Vista Ave on the Pine St side of the house.

Quercus ilex - Holly Oak

Holly Oak is a nice oak, just good old nice, cant say it ever brings out a "wow" like some of the oaks. It is a very popular oak tree and commonly planted. Medium growing evergreen (non-native oak but very common) tree 30 - 40' tall and about the same wide. The holly oak forms a dense, oval to rounded crown. This is an old specimen in England.

This is more like what we see here, this one is at San Lorenzo Park by the pond. Obviously a mistake, as all the other oaks in the park a Cork Oaks, and nice ones at that. In Pacific Coast Trees by McMinn and Maino, the authors suggest that these two trees are commonly confused.

Leaves are evergreen, simple, alternate, oval to ovate to lanceolate shaped, 1-3" long, margins entire or lightly spinose and slightly rolled over, dark green upper surface, white on the lower surface. Often with a slightly pointed tip. Variable like so many oaks. Younger more vigorous leaves tend to have more teeth.

Male flowers are in catkins, elongating in the spring, females are borne singly a bit further back from the ends.

Fruit of course is an acorn. The cap or cup is large and covers much of the acorn. Acorn is 3/4" to  about 1" long, can be brown to black when mature. Seems there is a second botanical variety that has almost black fruit. 

Younger acorns.

Stems are grayish or copper colored, hairy, and often take on a dark color as seen in this image.

Bark is checked in small pieces.

Older trunks are way cool.

Misidentification: Look for the white undersides of the leaves. Also, something caused the stems and older leaves to look like they have sooty mold but there does not seem to be any insects.
Q. suber also has a light colored leaf underside but the leaves are smaller, more blue and the bark is key.

Location: San Lorenzo Park by the pond is a nice specimen and while you are there look at the cork oaks.