Login

Email
Password
Submit
Cancel

Tanoak Tree

This is a wiki-style page about the Tanoak. If you know anything about any of the topics listed below, please feel welcome to write about it so others can learn from you.

General Information

Range

The tree is pretty common throughout Northern California and can be seen at just about any park or preserve in the area.

Range

The tree is pretty common throughout Northern California and can be seen at just about any park or preserve in the area.

Classification

Diseases

Pests

Climate

Tanoak thrives on fertile mountain slopes below 1200 meters in coastal ranges from the Santa Inez Mountains in Southern California, to the Cascade Ranges in Southwestern Oregon. The habitat of the tree is in coastal redwood forests, among Douglas fir forests, and mixed evergreen forests. The shrub form of tanoaks is common in chaparral communities. The tree is well-adapted to cool and windy coastal areas where soil is deep and fertile. Shallower soils tend to inhibit the growth of the tree.

Branches

The tree grows acorns which are a very popular food for squirrels and some birds. Historically, acorns were the most important staple plant food for Native American groups like the Ohlone Indians who lived throughout the coastal ranges of California. A single tanoak tree can produce as much as 200 pounds of acorns per year.

Tanbark acorns were also used for medicinal purposes such as treating coughs.

Leaves

The leaves of the Tanoak shrubs or trees tend to feel thick and leathery to the touch. They have an oblong shape and the ends of the leaves end in a sharp point. The Tanoak leaves have large parallel and evenly spaced veins.
Young leaves have tiny red-brown hairs and as the leaves mature the tiny hairs turn white in color. Since the tree is an evergreen, the leaves don't fall off at some point of the year. Instead, the leaves have a life span of about 3-4 years.

Bark

The tree can reach up to over 120 feet in height and up to 75 inches (about a meter) in diameter.
This plant is very interesting in that its environment plays a large role in the ultimate size of the plant.
Forested areas tend to have the taller tanoaks and open areas tend to have more of the shrub-like tanoaks.
However, when these plants grow in very dense forest where there is very little sunlight, they can have a shrub-like form with multiple stems.

As mentioned earlier, the native Ohlone people used to eat the acorns from the trees. They also used parts of the trees for their medicinal effects. The trees are also susceptible to something called the "Sudden oak death syndrome." This problem is caused by the Phytophthora fungus and is spread by beetles and contact with other objects in the environment, which are often human-made. There are a number of ways to keep the trees healthy. If you are hiking in parks or preserves, try not to interfere with the trees by trying to pick the acorns. The tree habitats may be under preservation.

Roots

Pop Culture

Conservation

Reproduction