BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Quercus vaccinifolia | Huckleberry Oak 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Huckleberry oak is a native, drought-resistant, evergreen, erect to
prostrate, spreading shrub.  It grows from 2 to 4 feet (0.6-1.2 m) high.
Branches are slender and flexible, with smooth bark [24].  Leaves are
sclerophyllous and brittle.  Acorns are from 0.4 to 0.6 inch (1.0-1.5
cm) long [15].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Phanerophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Sexual:  Huckleberry oak is wind pollinated.  The age at which acorns
are first produced is unknown.  Acorns mature in 1 year [29].  Limited
research places their germination capacity at 43 percent.  Germination
is hypogeal and occurs rapidly under warm, moist conditions [18].

Vegetative:  Huckleberry oak sprouts from the root crown following
damage to aboveground portions of the plant [3,24].  It also reproduces
by layering [30].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Huckleberry oak is found on xeric sites such as dry, windy ridges from
3,000 to 10,000 feet (305-3,049 m) in elevation [10,15].  Slope varies
from gentle to steep.  The soil is often rocky, and varies in depth from
shallow to moderately deep (4.7 to 37.4 inches [12-95 cm]) [1,9].
Huckleberry oak will grow in serpentine soils [11].

Overstory associates not listed as SAF cover types include sugar pine
(Pinus lambertiana), beach pine (P. contorta ssp. contorta),
incense-cedar (Libocedrus decurrens), Brewer spruce (Picea breweriana),
Baker cypress (Cupressus bakeri), and giant chinkapin (Chrysolepis
chrysophylla) [6,11,19,25] .

Shrub associates include pinemat manzanita (Arctostaphylos nevadensis),
California buckthorn (Rhamnus californica), poison-oak (Toxicodendron
diversilobum), Wood's rose (Rosa woodsii), deer oak (Quercus
sadleriana), Fremont silktassel (Garrya fremontii), squawcarpet
ceanothus (Ceanothus prostratus), chaparral whitethorn (C. leucodermis),
and shrub forms of California bay (Umbellularia californica), common
juniper (Juniperus communis), and tanoak (Lithocarpus densiflora),
[1,10,11,13,16].

Groundcover associates include obscure bedstraw (Galium ambiguum),
heart-leafed arnica (Arnica cordifolia), cliff-brake fern (Aspidotis
densa), bear-grass (Xerophyllum tenax), red fescue (Festuca rubra),
California fescue (F. californica), nodding microseris (Microseris
nutans), false-flax (Carex serratodens), scarlet paintbrush (Castilleja
miniata), and western rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera oblongifolia)
[1,9,11]. 


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Huckleberry oak is an edaphic or fire-climax species on some sites
[11,16].  In the absence of fire and under favorable soil conditions,
huckleberry oak is seral to coniferous species [1,3].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Huckleberry oak initiates growth in April or after snowmelt at high
elevation.  Flowering occurs from May to June.  Information on time of
acorn drop is lacking.  Seasonal growth ends around November with the
onset of freezing temperatures [10,15].

Related categories for Species: Quercus vaccinifolia | Huckleberry Oak