Quercus calliprinos Palestine oak
The most prominent feature of this scrubby evergreen oak is its large acorns, often an inch and a half long and an inch wide. The cup has elongated scales and encloses about a half of the nut. Leaves are tough with toothed margins, like those of coast live oak, but smaller and flat. Pairs of veins neatly extend from the central axis of the leaf towards the margins.
Palestine oak has been planted on campus near the vernal pool and on Serra Street by Magic, Inc. of Palo Alto. It features in Canopy’s 2007–2008 East Palo Alto Tree Initiative plantings along the Highway 101 soundwall, for example on either side of the pair of primrose trees at West Bayshore Road at Dumbarton Avenue.
About this Entry: Sairus Patel authored this entry Sep 2017.