''Quercus vacciniifolia'' (sometimes spelled ''Q. vaccinifolia''), the huckleberry oak, is a member of the ''Protobalanus'' section of genus ''

Quercus An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

''. It has

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

foliage, short

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

s, very bitter

acorn The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), en ...

s that mature in 18 months, and a woolly acorn shell interior.

Description

''Quercus vacciniifolia'' is a shrubby

of the oak family, which grows generally less than tall and spreads horizontally, never becoming a tree. In the field, the genus is best identified from its clustered terminal buds. The species is most easily identified by its

s. Those of ''Q. vacciniifolia'' are long and mature in 2 years after pollination.

Similar species

''Q. vacciniifolia'' can be easily confused with '' Q. cedrosensis'', which grows in dry chaparrals, such as California-Mexico border south, forests of

Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...

and at higher elevations on

Cedros Island Cedros Island (''Isla de Cedros'', "island of cedars" in Spanish (language), Spanish) is an island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the state of Baja California, Mexico. The dry and rocky island had a population of 1,350 in 2005 and has an area o ...

.Kevin C. Nixon (2002) ''The Oak (Quercus) Biodiversity of California and Adjacent Regions'', USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-184. Morphologically, the two species differ in their leaf margins: while ''Q. vacciniifolia'' leaves are entire to mucro-toothed, ''Q. cedrosensis leaves'' are entire or have irregular spine-tipped teeth.

Distribution and habitat

''Quercus vacciniifolia'' is native to the western United States, where it can be found in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where its distribution extends just into

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, and the

Klamath Mountains The Klamath Mountains are a rugged and lightly populated mountain range in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the western United States. As a mountain system within both the greater Pacific Coast Ranges and the California Coast R ...

and southern

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington (state), Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as m ...

as far north as southern

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. It grows in high mountain forests. It also dominates sections of mountain

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...

. The species can be found in steep slopes, ridges, conifer forests, and sub-alpine forest, mostly in high montane area at altitudes of . It is native to California, but can also be found in Oregon and Nevada. Hybridization between ''Q. vacciniifolia'' and ''Q. chrysolepis'' has been extensively reported in

. Between the early and middle

Holocene The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...

, 11,000 and 5,000 cal years BP, ''Q. vacciniifolia'' were an extensive shrub in the

(at the northern portions of California), which had ultramafic soils. At this period, ''Q. vacciniifolia'' was a main fire developer due to its abundance, mid-height and resinous leaves. Today, ''Q. vacciniifolia'' rarely forms dense chaparral-like stands, allowing fire resistant species to grow intermittently.R. Scott Anderson. '' Holocene Forest Development and Paleoclimates within the Central Sierra Nevada, California''. (1990) Journal of Ecology (1990), 78. p470-489.

Ecology

Many animal species use this

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

for food, including

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

, which eat the leaves, and many birds and mammals, including the

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), or simply black bear, is a species of medium-sized bear which is Endemism, endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. It is an omnivore, with ...

, which eat the acorns.

Uses

The acorns are edible. The ''Quercus vacciniifolia'' plant is used in restoration,

revegetation Revegetation is the process of replanting and rebuilding the soil of disturbed land. This may be a natural process produced by plant colonization and succession, manmade rewilding projects, accelerated process designed to repair damage to a la ...

, and

garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

landscaping Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following: # Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal ...

. It is good for preventing

erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as Surface runoff, water flow or wind) that removes soil, Rock (geology), rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust#Crust, Earth's crust and then sediment transport, tran ...

, such as on the slopes above

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; Washo language, Washo: ''dáʔaw'') is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the Western United States, straddling the border between California and Nevada. Lying at above sea level, Lake Tahoe is the largest a ...

to slow the erosion that pollutes the lake.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q3414216 vacciniifolia Flora of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Flora of California Flora of Oregon Flora of Nevada Flora of the Klamath Mountains Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants Plants described in 1873