Tree identification - Ask Extension
Hello, I hope you can identify this tree in my back yard. It does lose quite a few leaves in late fall, but retains a lot of green leaves throughout w...
Knowledgebase
Tree identification #811215
Asked September 17, 2022, 6:13 PM EDT
Hello, I hope you can identify this tree in my back yard. It does lose quite a few leaves in late fall, but retains a lot of green leaves throughout winter. It drops leaves again around late spring or early summer but never goes bare at any time of year. I'm not good at judging height but you can see it towering over the roof of my one-story home in one of the pictures.
Linn County Oregon
Expert Response
Hi Carolyn and thank you for your question to "Ask Extension". From the pictures that you provided the tree is most likely Quercus kelloggii, the California black oak. Oak trees along with beech and hornbeam retain many of their dried leaves until late winter and then drop them intermittently. This tendency for late retention of leaves, dropping them intermittently during winter, with a final leaf drop just before bud burst in the spring is called marcescence. I hope that this answers your question and you found the information useful. As always Happy Gardening
Hello Kevin,
Thank you for your reply. I don't wish to question the expert, but I have been looking up California black oaks online, and what I have found doesn't match my tree. It looks as though California black oaks turn color in the fall, while my tree stays green all year. The leaves that fall tend to be yellow or brown, but the tree itself always looks green, and it does not retain a noticeable amount of dead leaves. The other thing is the leaf shape; the pictures of California black oak leaves I found online have a normal oak leaf shape, while my tree does not. The leaves on my tree tend to be sort of blob shaped. The closest leaf I have found online is water oak, but I don't know that one of those would survive in Albany. I do think my tree is an oak, because the nuts do seem to be tiny acorns (we've only ever found tiny ones), and the flowers in the spring look like ones I've seen on other oaks.
Thank you,
Carolyn
Carolyn,
I am glad that you replied to my question. I too looked at the water oak and thought that the leaf presentation was similar. The nut (acorn) had no similarity to the ones in the picture so that was my reasoning to reject it. Even though it has a distribution in Oregon it is only semi-evergreen in the deep South. This is one of the problems with plant identification with photographs only. Would it be possible to bring in a sample to the extension office of the leaves and acorn? It would be very helpful. Also a photograph of the trunk from 2-3 feet away to view the bark characteristics.
I am glad that you replied to my question. I too looked at the water oak and thought that the leaf presentation was similar. The nut (acorn) had no similarity to the ones in the picture so that was my reasoning to reject it. Even though it has a distribution in Oregon it is only semi-evergreen in the deep South. This is one of the problems with plant identification with photographs only. Would it be possible to bring in a sample to the extension office of the leaves and acorn? It would be very helpful. Also a photograph of the trunk from 2-3 feet away to view the bark characteristics.
Thank you,
Yes, I could get to the extension office sometime this week with the items you mentioned, that makes sense.
Carolyn
