Doug- Great photos! Familiar terrain! How far up California are you going?
-Don > Date: Tue, 8 Dec 2009 21:06:53 -0800 > From: [email protected] > Subject: [ENTS] California Oaks / Valley oak > To: [email protected]; [email protected] > > WNTS/ENTS, > > so now I come to valley oak. Whenever the subject of largest North American > oak is mentioned in any material that I've read, this species is always > considered as the largest or one of the largest. The following sentence from > "The Oaks of California" is typical: "Valley oak may be the largest North > American oak, and descriptions of its remarkable stature appear in the > diaries of many early visitors to California". As the common name implies > this species likes to grow in the well-watered and nutrient-rich soils of the > valleys. Unfortunately this is also the reason that so many of these trees > are now gone...they have mostly lost out to agriculture as well as > residential developments. > > I have only three pictures of this species. > > Image #1 I know it's an obvious double but it's still awful big! This massive > oak is at Fort Tejon State Park in the Tehachapi Mountains, Kern County. It > measures 25.9' in girth at 4.5' and 24.9' at the narrowest point below breast > height (3.5'). It was raining at the time I visited this tree so the image is > fairly grainy. Still, you might be able to make out all the small holes in > the bark and wood, especially the dead wood. These holes were made by the > acorn woodpecker which is incredibly common wherever there are oak trees. > These loud and colorful birds use these holes to store acorns...lots of > acorns! > > Image #2 Another shot of the same tree at a greater distance. > > Image #3 This picture was taken at Beringer's in Napa Valley. I think they > called it the "leaning oak". > > Doug > > > > > -- > Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org > Send email to [email protected] > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en > To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] _________________________________________________________________ Windows 7: Unclutter your desktop. Learn more. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/videos-tours.aspx?h=7sec&slideid=1&media=aero-shake-7second&listid=1&stop=1&ocid=PID24727::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WWL_WIN_7secdemo:122009 -- Eastern Native Tree Society http://www.nativetreesociety.org Send email to [email protected] Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees?hl=en To unsubscribe send email to [email protected]
