Alternate name: Tanbark Oak

Family: Fagaceae, Beech view all from this family

Description Evergreen tree with a great central trunk and crown varying from narrow and conical to broad and rounded; sometimes a shrub.
Height: 50-80' (15-24 m).
Diameter: 1-2 1/2' (0.3-0.8 m).
Leaves: evergreen; 2 1/2-5" (6-13 cm) long, 3/4-2 1/4" (2-6 cm) wide. Oblong, thick and leathery, with many straight parallel sunken side veins; with wavy-toothed border sometimes turning under; stout, hairy leafstalks. Shiny light green and becoming hairless or nearly so above; with whitish or yellowish hairs, woolly when young, beneath.
Bark: brown, thick, deeply furrowed into ridges and plates.
Twigs: stout, with dull yellow hairs.
Flowers: numerous, tiny, stalkless, whitish flowers in catkins 2-4" (5-10 cm) long; with unpleasant odor; upright from base of leaf; in early spring, sometimes also in autumn; usually all male, sometimes also 1-2 tiny, greenish female flowers at base.
Acorns: 3/4-1 1/4" (2-3 cm) long; egg-shaped; 1-2 on stout, long stalk; yellow-brown, with shallow, saucer-shaped cup covered by long, slender, spreading scales; maturing second year.

Habitat Moist valleys and mountain slopes; in oak forests and sometimes in nearly pure stands.

Range Pacific Coast from SW. Oregon south to S. California and in Sierra Nevada to central California; to 5000' (1524 m).

Discussion Tanoak is placed in a separate genus with more than 100 species native to southeast Asia and Indomalaysia. While the acorns resemble those of true oaks, the flowers are like those of chinkapins and chestnuts. Tanoak bark was once the main commercial western source of tannin. Indians ground flour from the large acorns after removing the shells and washing the seeds in hot water to remove the bitter taste.