DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Chrysolepis chrysophylla | Giant Chinquapin 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Giant chinquapin is restricted to the Pacific Coast region, occurring
from central California to west-central Washington [32,44,51].  Giant
chinquapin is most abundant in the coastal mountain ranges of
northwestern California and southwestern Oregon.  It is also common
throughout most of western Oregon, extending eastward along the southern
end of the Cascade Range into southeastern Oregon and as far north as
the Columbia River gorge [1,18,64].  Several disjunct populations occur
in western Washington in the vicinity of Puget Sound [1,42].

Giant chinquapin trees range primarily from San Fransico Bay northward
[19].  Shrubby ecotypes of giant chinquapin make up the entire southern
portion of the species distribution from Marin County south to the Santa
Lucia Mountains in Monterey County [18,25,69].  Shrubby growth forms
also occur throughout the range of the species in southern Oregon and
northern California [51].  Disjunct populations of both trees and shrubs
grow locally on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada in central
California [25,55].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES27  Redwood
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub


STATES : 
     CA  OR  WA


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     CRLA  PORE  REDW


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    1  Northern Pacific Border
    2  Cascade Mountains
    3  Southern Pacific Border
    4  Sierra Mountains


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K002  Cedar - hemlock - Douglas-fir forest
   K003  Silver fir - Douglas-fir forest
   K004  Fir - hemlock forest
   K005  Mixed conifer forest
   K006  Redwood forest
   K007  Red fir forest
   K026  Oregon oakwoods
   K028  Mosaic of K002 and K026
   K029  California mixed evergreen forest
   K033  Chaparral
   K034  Montane chaparral


SAF COVER TYPES : 
   207  Red fir
   211  White fir
   229  Pacific Douglas-fir
   230  Douglas-fir - western hemlock
   231  Port Orford-cedar
   232  Redwood
   234  Douglas-fir - tanoak - Pacific madrone
   243  Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
   246  California black oak
   247  Jeffery pine
   248  Knobcone pine
   249  Canyon live oak


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Self-perpetuating stands of giant chinquapin are indicative of climax
conditions in a number of communities within redwood (Sequoia
sempervirens), mixed evergreen, mixed conifer, white fir (Abies
concolor), western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), and Shasta red fir
(Abies magnifica var. shastensis) forests [18,36,56,63,66].  Giant
chiquapin may occur as either a subdominant tree or a dominant
understory shrub, depending upon moisture conditions, elevation, and
overstory density [40,42].

In the absence of fire, giant chinquapin is the potential climax
dominant at upper elevations of the mixed-evergreen zone in northwestern
California [40].  These communities are associated with mesic north
slopes at the interface of the white fir zone and are currently
dominated by Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) [40].  Climax
associates include Pacific rhododendron (Rhododendron macrophyllum),
vine maple (Acer circinatum), beargrass (Xerophyllum tenex), and
twinflower (Linnaea borealis).  In the the western Cascades of Oregon,
sites supporting the western hemlock/giant chinquapin habitat type are
only slightly more mesic than those of the western
hemlock-Douglas-fir/oceanspray (Holdiscus discolor) habitat type; the
latter type occupies some of the hottest and driest forested sites in
the western Cascades [14,29,30].  Within this region, the presence of
giant chinquapin often indicates infertile, droughty soils [2,14,30,71].

Classification schemes listing giant chinquapin as a dominant component
of the vegetation in habitat types (hts), community types (cts), or
plant associations (pas) are presented below:

Area                          Classification        Authority

OR, WA                        general veg. cts      Franklin & 
                                                    Dyrness 1973
c OR                          general veg. pas      Volland 1985
s OR: s.Chiloquin & Klamath   general veg. pas      Hopkins 1979
RD, Winema NF
c OR: western Cascades        forest hts, cts       Hawk 1979
                                  pas              
c OR: central Cascades        forest pas, cts       Dyrness, Franklin,
                                                    & Moir 1974
n CA & sw OR: Siskiyou        forest pas            Atzet & Wheeler 1984
Mountain Province
CA                            gen veg. cts          Thorne 1976

Related categories for Species: Chrysolepis chrysophylla | Giant Chinquapin