Quercus kelloggii

What to Eat

Edible parts: Seeds, Nut

The seeds, measuring 25–30mm long and 18mm wide, have a bitter taste and were used as a staple food by several Native North American tribes. They are cooked before eating and can be dried, ground into a powder, and used as a thickening in stews or mixed with cereals for making bread. The bitter tannins they contain must be leached out by thoroughly washing in running water, though this also removes many minerals. Either whole seeds or ground powder can be used. Leaching whole seeds can take several days or even weeks; wrapping them in a cloth bag and placing them in a stream is one method. Grinding to powder speeds up the process, and a simple taste test indicates when sufficient tannin has been removed. The traditional approach was to bury seeds in boggy ground overwinter and dig them up in spring once astringency had diminished. Roasted seeds can be used as a coffee substitute.

Where to Find It

It is a temperate plant. It suits hardiness zones 7-10.

Australia, North America, USA,

How to Identify

A large tree. It can grow 18-27 m high and spread 12 m wide. It loses its leaves during the year. It has a large, open, round crown. The bark is thick and cracked into wide ridges. The leaves have deep lobes. There are teeth with bristles along the edge. The leaves are shiny yellow-green above and paler underneath. They can also be hairy underneath. The fruit are acorns on short stalks.

How to Grow

Prefers a good deep fertile loam which can be on the stiff side. Young plants tolerate reasonable levels of side shade. Tolerates moderate exposure, surviving well but being somewhat stunted. A very ornamental plant, it grows well at Kew, occasionally producing fertile seed. It prefers warmer summers than are usually experienced in Britain, trees often grow poorly in this country and fail to properly ripen their wood resulting in frost damage overwinter. The tree flowers on new growth produced in spring, the seed taking two summers to ripen. Intolerant of root disturbance, trees should be planted in their permanent positions whilst young. Hybridizes freely with other members of the genus. This species is notably resistant to honey fungus.

Propagation: Seed loses viability quickly if allowed to dry out. It can be stored moist and cool overwinter, but is best sown as soon as it is ripe in an outdoor seed bed with protection from mice and squirrels. Small quantities can be sown in deep pots in a cold frame. Because plants develop a deep taproot, they should be moved to their permanent positions as soon as possible — trees sown in situ produce the best results. Do not leave trees in a nursery bed for more than 2 growing seasons, as they transplant very poorly after that point.

Medicinal Uses

Any galls produced on the tree are strongly astringent and can be used in the treatment of haemorrhages, chronic diarrhoea, and dysentery.

Other Uses

A mulch of the leaves repels slugs and grubs, though fresh leaves should not be used as they can inhibit plant growth. Oak galls, caused by insect larvae living inside them, provide a rich source of tannin once the insect has left, and can also be used as a dyestuff. The galls have also been used as a dark hair dye. Acorn meal has been used to mend cracks in clay pots. The wood is coarse-grained, heavy, hard, strong, and very brittle, with limited economic importance; it is occasionally used for fence posts and as fuel.

Quercus kelloggii, the California black oak or Kellogg oak, is an oak in the red oak section (genus Quercus, section Lobatae, series Agrifoliae) native to western North America.

Notes

There are about 600 Quercus species.

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