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Quercus emoryi - Emory oak

Scientific Family
Fagaceae
Other common names
Emory's oak
Plant type
Trees
Riparian
Yes

Plant Description

Origin
Native

Often has a very upright growth habit, evergreen, spring-deciduous, lustrous green leaves. Slow growth.

Leaves mostly dark green on both sides, oblong, shiny, spines on margins. Lower leaf surface not strongly net-veined. Bark is black on mature trees. Shrub or a tree, but can reach a height of 40 feet or more; often has a very upright growth habit.

Height
40 feet
Width
40 feet

Habitat

Habitat description

Chaparral, pinyon-juniper, oak woodlands and ponderosa pine woodlands.

Plant Community
Interior Chaparral
Montane Conifer Forest
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Riparian
Low elevation
3000
High elevation
8000

Leaves

Leaf color
Yellowish-green to dark green
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf shape
Round or oval
Leaf margin
Toothed
Leaf attachment
Alternate
Leaf hairs
Bottom of leaves
Spines
Yes
Leaf Drop
Spring-deciduous

Narrowly ovate to broadly lance shaped, thick, stiff and leathery, 1 to 3 inches long with a spiny tip and some spiny teeth on the margins. Shiny yellowish-green to dark green and smooth above, paler but smooth below with maybe a few hairs.

Flowers

Flower color
Yellowish-green
Flower shape
Inconspicuous
Tubular
No
First bloom month
April
Last bloom month
May

Tiny male and females flowers on the same plant. Males in long drooping catkins, yellowish-green. Females solitary or in short spikes in leaf axils, appearing with the leaves.

Flower clusters
Elongated

Fruit

Fruit color
Light brown
Fruit type
Acorn or acorn-like

Oblong acorn 1/2 to 3/4 inch long with lower third covered by a hairy, thick, scaly, bowl-shaped cup. Ripens in 1 season in early fall.

Bark/Branches

Bark color
Gray to black
Bark texture
Rough

Becoming quite thick and splitting into irregular furrows and scaly ridges with rectangular plates. Twigs are fuzzy and yellowish-brown. Trunk up to 2-1/2 feet in diameter.