Quercus garryana

Quercus garryana is an oak tree species with a range stretching from southern California to southwestern British Columbia. It is commonly known as the Oregon white oak or Oregon oak in the United States and as the Garry oak in Canada. It grows from sea level to 210 meters (690 ft) altitude in the northern part of its range, and at 300 to 1,800 meters (980 to 5,910 ft) in the south of the range in California. The eponymous Nicholas Garry was deputy governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1822–35. In British Columbia, the Garry oak grows on the Gulf Islands and southeastern Vancouver Island, from west of Victoria along the east side of the island up to the Campbell River area. There are also small populations along the Fraser River on the British Columbia mainland. The northernmost population of Garry oak can be found just below 50°N on Savary Island, in the northern stretches of the Strait of Georgia. The Garry oak is one of only two oaks native to western Canada (along with the bur oak), and the only one found west of Manitoba. In Washington state, the tree grows on the west side of the Cascade Range, particularly in the Puget Sound lowlands, the northeastern Olympic Peninsula, Whidbey Island, the Chehalis river valley, and the San Juan Islands. It also grows in the foothills of the southeastern Cascades and along the Columbia River Gorge. In Oregon, the tree grows on the west side of the Cascade Range, primarily in the Willamette, Umpqua and Rogue River valleys, and along the Columbia River Gorge. In California, the garryana variety grows in the foothills of the Siskiyou and Klamath Mountains, the Coast Ranges of Northern California, and of the west slope of the Cascades. The semota variety grows in the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges as far south as Los Angeles County. There are three varieties: It is a drought-tolerant tree, typically of medium height, growing slowly to around 20 m (occasionally as high as 30 m) or as a shrub to 3 to 5 meters (9.8 to 16.4 ft) tall. It has the characteristic oval profile of other oaks when solitary, but is also known to grow in groves close enough together that crowns may form a canopy. The leaves are deciduous, 5–15 cm long and 2–8 cm broad, with 3-7 deep lobes on each side. The flowers are catkins, the fruit a small acorn 2–3 cm (rarely 4 cm) long and 1.5–2 cm broad, with shallow, scaly cups. Its fall color is unspectacular, with many trees turning plain brown. Other individuals may have subtle mixtures of brown, green and yellow, or in less common cases a fairly bright 'peas and corn' effect. The Oregon white oak is commonly found in the Willamette Valley hosting the mistletoe Phoradendron flavescens. It is also commonly found hosting galls created by wasps in the family Cynipidae. 'Oak apples', green or yellow ball of up to 5 cm in size, are the most spectacular. They are attached to the undersides of leaves. One common species responsible for these galls is Cynips maculipennis. Other species create galls on stems and leaves. Shapes vary from spheres to mushroom-shaped to pencil-shaped.