DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Lithocarpus densiflora | Tanoak 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
A major component of coastal mixed evergreen forests, tanoak is
distributed from the Cascade Mountains of southwestern Oregon southward
through the Klamath Mountains and California Coast Ranges to Ventura
County [25,34,42].  In northern California, tanoak ranges inland to the
lower slopes of Mount Shasta and occurs intermittently along the west
slope of the Sierra Nevada as far south as Mariposa County [31].  Sierra
stands are locally abundant in Butte and Yuba Counties [13].  Recent
inventories indicate that this hardwood comprises the dominant cover
type over at least 861,000 acres (350,700 ha) in California [4].

Shrub tanoak (var. echinoides) occurs in chaparral communities
throughout the mountains of northern California and southern Oregon,
becoming particularly abundant in the vicinity of Mount Shasta
[31,34,42].  Scattered populations also occur in the southern Coast
Ranges and in the central Sierra Nevada [34].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES20  Douglas-fir
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES23  Fir - spruce
   FRES26  Lodgepole pine
   FRES27  Redwood
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub


STATES : 
     CA  OR


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     REDW  YOSE


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


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   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
   K030  California oakwoods
   K033  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
   233  Oregon white oak
   234  Douglas-fir - tanoak - Pacific madrone
   243  Sierra Nevada mixed conifer
   244  Pacific ponderosa pine - Douglas-fir
   245  Pacific ponderoas pine
   246  California black oak
   247  Jeffery pine
   248  Knobcone pine
   249  Canyon live oak
   255  California coast live oak


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Self-perpetuating stands of tanoak are indicative of climax conditions
in a number of communities within evergreen hardwood [35], mixed
evergreen [1,10,55], redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) [47,55], and mixed
conifer forests [44].

Within mixed evergreen forests in southwestern Oregon, Atzet [1]
describes climax tanoak communities associated with warm, moist sites
along the lower slopes of the Siskiyou Mountains.  Even though most
stands are currently dominated by a Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
overstory, Douglas-fir is a fire-maintained, seral component within
these stands.  Climax understory dominants within the tanoak series may
include vine maple (Acer circinatum), Cascade holly grape (Berberis
nervosa), poison oak (Rhus diversiloba), salal (Gaultheria shallon),
vanilla leaf (Achlys triphylla), common princes pine (Chimaphilla
umbellata), and twinflower (Linnaea borealis).

Related categories for Species: Lithocarpus densiflora | Tanoak