Fagaceae (beech family) › Quercus

Quercus parvula var. shrevei Shreve oak

Central & Northern Coastal California
Shreve oak at the Cantor Center parking lot. Sairus Patel, 19 Sep 2018
Branchlet of Shreve oak, Cantor Center parking lot. Unlike coast live oak, leaf undersides lack tufts of hair at the vein axils. Acorn tips are blunter than in interior live oak. Sairus Patel, 19 Sep 2018

Abundant locally in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Shreve oak at Jasper Ridge was long treated as a shrubby variety of Q. wislizeni (which see for points of difference). The undersides of its oblong leaves, unlike those of coast live oak, consistently lack the hairy tufts at the vein axils; their margins may be smooth or spiny. Campus’s only confirmed specimen revealed itself in 2017: a modest, spreading, multi-trunked tree at the northwest corner of Museum Way and Palm Drive, which had quietly passed for coast or interior live oak for decades (map pin). A pair of 1-gallon plants may have been planted by Magic on the Stadium berm in 2003, but none are to be seen there now.

References:
  • Main References for New Tree Entries.
  • Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. 2025. Vascular Plant List, Oakmead Herbarium.
  • Hauser, Duncan A., Al Keuter, John D. McVay, Andrew L. Hipp, and Paul S. Manos. 2017. “The Evolution and Diversification of the Red Oaks of the California Floristic Province (Quercus Section Lobatae, Series Agrifoliae).” American Journal of Botany 104 (10): 1581–95.
  • Keuter, Al, and Paul S. Manos. 2019. “Agrifoliae: The California Red Oaks.” International Oaks, no. 30: 191–202.
  • Magic. 2003. “Stadium Proposed Trees, 21 November 2003.” (Shreve oak was the only item marked with a ‘?’.)

About this Entry: Authored Sep 2017 by Sairus Patel. Cantor location, Jasper Ridge note added (Dec 2022, SP). Edits (Aug 2025, SP).