Data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria

View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora

Quercus palmeri is a species of oak known by the common name Palmer oak, or Palmer's oak. It is native to California, Baja California, New Mexico, and in Arizona through the transition zone to the eastern Mogollon Rim, where it grows in canyons, mountain slopes, washes, and other dry habitat types. Quercus palmeri is a shrub or small tree growing up to 3 meters (10 feet) tall, but known to reach 6 meters (20 feet) at times. It branches into angular twigs and is reddish brown. The leaves are 1 to 3 centimeters (0. 4-1. 2 inches) in length. They are stiff, leathery, and brittle, their edges wavy with sharp spine-teeth. The upper surface is shiny, waxy, and olive green in color, the lower gray-green and coated with glandular hairs. The fruit is an acorn with a hairy cap up to 2. 5 centimeters (1 inch) wide and a blunt-ended nut 2 to 3 centimeters (0. 8-1. 2 inches) long. Quercus palmeri is a shrub or small tree growing up to 3 meters (10 feet) tall, but known to reach 6 meters (20 feet) at times. It branches into angular twigs and is reddish brown. The leaves are 1 to 3 centimeters (0. 4-1. 2 inches) in length. They are stiff, leathery, and brittle, their edges wavy with sharp spine-teeth. The upper surface is shiny, waxy, and olive green in color, the lower gray-green and coated with glandular hairs. The fruit is an acorn with a hairy cap up to 2. 5 centimeters (1 inch) wide and a blunt-ended nut 2 to 3 centimeters (0. 8-1. 2 inches) long. Quercus palmeri usually grows in small populations, some of which are actually cloned growths of a single plant. One such clone in the Jurupa Mountains in Riverside County, California, named the Jurupa Oak, was determined to be over 13,000 years old, a single individual living as a relict from the Pleistocene. It is therefore one of the oldest living plants in the world.

Plant type

Shrub

Size

10 - 20 ft Tall

Calscape icon
Color

Cream, Green

Special uses

Bank stabilization, Hedge

Sun

Full Sun

Propagation

For propagating by seed: Fresh seeds sow in fall outdoors or stratify to hold for spring sowing. (USDA Forest Service 1974).

Sunset Zones

7*, 8, 9*, 10, 11, 14*, 15*, 16*, 17, 18*, 19*, 20*, 21*, 22*, 23*, 24

Site type

Rocky slopes, flats

Plant communities

Chaparral

Caterpillars
Butterflies

Butterflies and moths supported

0 confirmed and 137 likely

Confirmed Likely

Abagrotis baueri

Acrobasis caliginella

Acrobasis comptella

Frosty Dagger Moth

Acronicta brumosa