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Home | Plant Communities | Northern Oak Woodlands

This open, grassy woodland is found in the North Coast Ranges, roughly north of the San Francisco Bay to Humbolt County and inland from the redwood forests to 3,000 - 5,000 feet in the Yolla Bolly mountains at the northern extreme of the Sacramento River Valley. Average rainfall is 25" - 40", and the growing season is 6 - 9 months annually.

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Big Leaf Maple

Acer macrophyllum; Maple Family

• deciduous; 30 - 70 feet tall shade tree
• rounded crown of spreading or drooping branches and with the largest leaves of all maples (6" - 10")
• shiny green leaves turn yellow or orange in autumn; have 5 deep, pointed lobes and 5 main thickened veins. Leaf edges have small, blunt lobes and teeth
• yellow flowers up to 6" long cluster at twig ends in spring
• fruit is paired, with long, winged seeds
• Native Americans used the wood to make dishes and paddles
• syrup can be made from the sap, although the sugar content is lower than that of the Sugar Maple (so it takes significantly more sap to produce the syrup); also differs in taste from traditional maple syrup

Blue Eyed Grass

Sisyrinchium bellum; Iris Family

• tufted perennial with a short root stalk
• deep blue flowers are 6-parted with yellow centers; appear on the top of branching, flattish, foot-tall stems
• blooms March - June

California Buckeye

Aesculus californica; Buckeye Family

• deciduous tree 15 to 30 feet tall with a broad round crown
• bark is smooth and gray
• compound leaves are dark green above, paler beneath, with 5 leaflets 3" - 6" long
• white flowers appear in early spring
• loses its leaves by mid-summer, revealing pear-shaped fruit
• Native Americans used the seed covering as fish poison--thrown into ponds, the pulverized nuts would stupefy fish, making them float to the surface for easy netting
• spindles from young shoots were twirled against a wood plate to make fire

Oregon Oak

Quercus garryana; Beech Family

• deciduous tree; 25 - 70 feet tall with a broad rounded crown
• trunk is divided into wide spreading branches
• bark is light gray-brown, soft and scaly
• leaves are long with shallow rounded lobes
• flowers in drooping catkins near branch tips; blooms April - June
• acorns appear August - December
• Quercus species are host to many butterfly species, including several Hairstreaks, Duskywings and the California Sister.