Index / Search / Quercus chrysolepis

§1 Plant

Quercus chrysolepis Liebm.

vernacular canyon live oak — species · Fagaceae

USDA: QUCH2
GBIF: 2879984
Rank: species

canyon live oak (Quercus chrysolepis) — Platephotograph · edwardrooksCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Shrub, Tree
Duration: Perennial
Group: Dicot
Family: Fagaceae Dumort.
Genus: Quercus

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 17 counties across 4 states/territories

Legend Native · 17 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: Low
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: Medium
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: None
Hedging: Low

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: 11 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 160 min.
Precipitation: 6–110 in/yr
pH range: 4.5–7.5
Root depth: 42 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Single Stem
Growth rate: Slow
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 90 ft
Height @ 20 y: 30 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Dense
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: Yes
Seeds / lb: 100
Propagation: seed, bare root, container

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: Yes
Browse palatability: Medium
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Medium
Lumber: No
Fuelwood: High
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 17 counties across 4 states/territories.

Arizona view state ↗ 8 N ▾

Nevada view state ↗ 2 N ▾

New Mexico view state ↗ 1 N ▾

Grant 35017

Oregon view state ↗ 6 N ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/QUCH2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2879984 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T14:17:10Z