| California Black Oak | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||||
| Quercus kelloggii Newb. |
California Black Oak (Quercus kelloggii), also known as simply Black Oak, or Kellogg Oak, is an oak in the red oak section (Quercus sect. John Strong Newberry ( December 22, 1822 &ndash December 7, 1892) was a U The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of Trees and Shrubs in the Genus Quercus (from Latin This is an incomplete list of Quercus Species. The Genus contains about 400 species Lobatae), native to western North America. It is a close relative of the Black Oak (Quercus velutina) found in eastern and central North America.
.jpg/180px-Quercus_kelloggii_(bark_leaf).jpg)
California Black Oak is a deciduous tree, typically growing from 9-25 m (30-80 ft) in height and from 0. Botany Autumn leaf color. See --> In Botany and Horticulture, deciduous Plants, including A tree is a perennial Woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or 3-1. 4 m (1-4. 5 ft) in diameter. Large trees may exceed 36 m (120 ft) in height and 1. 6 m (5 ft) diameter. The species also grows in scrub form on poor sites. In open areas the crown is broad and rounded, with lower branches nearly touching the ground or forming a browse line. In closed stands, the crown is narrow and slender in young trees and irregularly broad in old trees. Trunks are usually free of branches for 6-12 m (20-40 ft) in closed stands. Trunks are often forked, and usually decayed and hollow in older trees. The bark is thin and smooth in young trees, becoming moderately thick, deeply fissured, and platy with age. This oak grows from one to several vertical roots which penetrate to bedrock, with large, laterally spreading roots extending off from vertical ones. It also has a number of surface roots. Acorns are relatively large in this species, from 2. 5-3 cm (1-1. 2 in) long and 1. 5-1. 8 cm (0. 6-0. 7 in) wide. The deeply lobed leaves are typically 10-20 cm (4-8 in) long. California black oak can live up to 500 years of age.
California Black Oak is distributed along foothills and lower mountains of California and southern Oregon. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Oregon ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is found from Lane County, Oregon south through the Cascade Range, the Sierra Nevada, and the Coast, Transverse, and Peninsular ranges to San Diego County, California. Lane County is a county in the US state of Oregon. In 2000 its population was 322959 The Sierra Nevada ( Spanish for "Snowy Range" is a Mountain range located in the U A Coastal range is any range of mountains forming a coastline The Transverse Ranges (or more accurately the Los Angeles Ranges) are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, one of the various North American The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province are a group of mountain ranges which stretch 1500 km (900 miles from southern California San Diego County is a County located on the Pacific Ocean in the far southwest of the U The tree occurs in pure or mixed stands. Pure stands usually indicate sites unfavorable to conifer growth or recurring disturbance such as fire or logging activities.
It is a critical species for wildlife. Oaks (Quercus spp. ) may be the single most important genus used by wildlife for food and cover in California forests and rangelands, and California Black Oak occupies more total area in California than any other hardwood species. Livestock also make heavy use of this species for food and cover.
.jpg/180px-Quercus_kelloggii_(tree).jpg)
Cavities in the trees provide den or nest sites for owls, various woodpeckers, tree squirrels, and American Black Bears. The Owls are an order of birds of prey. Most are Solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions (e The woodpeckers, piculets and wrynecks are a family, Picidae, of Near-passerine Birds. Although the term tree squirrel can refer to any Arboreal member of the family Sciuridae, it is generally in reference to the common and widely distributed The American Black Bear ( Ursus americanus) is the most common Bear Species native to North America. Trees provide valuable shade for livestock and wildlife during the hot summer months. California Black Oak forest types are heavily used for spring, summer, and fall cover by Black Bear.
It is browsed by Mule Deer and livestock. The mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus) is a Deer whose habitat is in the western half of North America. Acorns are heavily utilized by livestock, Mule Deer, feral pigs, rodents, Mountain Quail, Steller's Jay, and woodpeckers. Pigs, also called hogs or' swine', are Ungulates which have been domesticated as sources of food leather and similar products since ancient times The Mountain Quail, Oreortyx pictus is a small ground-dwelling Bird in the New World quail family. The Steller's Jay ( Cyanocitta stelleri) is a Jay native to western North America, closely related to the Blue Jay found in the rest of the The woodpeckers, piculets and wrynecks are a family, Picidae, of Near-passerine Birds. Acorns constitute an average of 50% of the fall and winter diets of Western Gray Squirrel and Black-tailed Deer during good mast years. The Western Gray Squirrel ( Sciurus griseus) is an Arboreal Rodent found along the western coast of the United States and Canada The Black-tailed deer, or Blacktail deer ( Odocoileus hemionus) is a species of Deer found in western North America, specifically the Fawn survival rates increase or decrease with the size of the acorn crop.
It is a preferred foraging substrate for many birds. All of 68 bird species observed in oak woodlands of the Tehachapi Mountains of California used California black oak for part of their foraging activities. The Tehachapi Mountains (təˈhætʃəˌpi are a short transverse range in southern California in the United States, running SW-NE connecting Acorn Woodpecker, Bullock's Oriole, and Nashville Warbler show strong preference for California Black Oak. The Acorn Woodpecker ( Melanerpes formicivorus) is a medium-sized Woodpecker, 21 cm long with an average weight of 85 g The Bullock's Oriole, Icterus bullockii, is a small blackbird. The Nashville Warbler, Vermivora ruficapilla, is a small Songbird in the New World warbler family
Cultivation & uses
California Native Americans preferred California Black Oak acorns over those of other species for making acorn meal. Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States The wood is used for making cabinets, furniture, high grade lumber, pallets, and industrial timbers. Wood is hard fibrous lignified structural tissue produced as secondary Xylem in the stems of Woody plants notably trees but also shrubs It is also used as fuelwood.
California Black Oak comprises a total volume of 29% of California's hardwood timber resources, and is the major hardwood sawn into lumber there. The total estimated area of species occurrence is 361,800 ha (3,618 km² or 894,000 acres); 239,200 ha (2,392 km² or 591,000 acres) of timberland and 122,600 ha (1,226 km² or 303,000 acres) of woodland. Of this land 60% is privately owned, 31% is in National Forests, and 9% is on other public lands. It has greatly decreased from its historic abundance. This is due to a number of factors, including drought, disease, animal foraging, logging practices, fire suppression, and a variety of other human impacts. Cutting green trees for fuelwood has contributed to the decline of this species, and illegal harvesting of green trees from public lands is a continuing problem.
It was long considered by foresters and government agencies as a weed tree. In its earlier years, its only use was to feed the boilers of donkey engines bringing in the valuable pine and fir logs. There was a period in the mid 1960's when U. S. Forest Service policy in California's National Forests for the California black oak was systematic extermination by girdling the trees. The objective was to make room for more coniferous growth. In the rush to utilize the magnificent pines, firs and redwoods, the dense hardwoods were looked on with contempt. Like a few other visionaries in the 1960s, Guy Hall thought the California Black Oak presented a beautiful challenge that deserved better than eradication. In 1965 Hall convinced federal agencies to cease their extermination polices.
Plantations of California Black Oak have been successfully established in clearcuts from acorn plantings. Fundamentally a plantation is usually a large Farm or estate, especially in a tropical or semitropical country on which Cotton, Tobacco Thinning such stands promotes stand productivity and wood quality, and is recommended when trees are from 9-15 m (30-50 ft) tall or when stand density (basal area) exceeds 29 m²/ha (125 ft²/acre). This tree has also been managed for hardwood production by maintaining scattered pure stands within coniferous forests. Stands of this species will often establish on poorer sites, where conifer seedling establishment has not been successful.
References
- Flora of North America: Quercus kelloggii
- Hall, G. (1998). The management, manufacture, marketing of California black oak, Pacific madrone and tanoak: A practical handbook on successful hardwood utilization in California and southern Oregon. Western Hardwood Association.
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic