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GAMBEL OAK - Beech Family Quercus gambelii      Gambel Oak is a tree of distinctive leaves and variable growth. It occurs from shrub size to a large 50 foot tree with a 2½ foot diameter trunk. Trees 10 to 25 feet tall are most common at the South Rim. The Gambel oak grows most often in thickets of a dozen or more. These are usually clones that grew up from a single root system, often after a fire. Gambel oak bark is gray, fissured and hard. The trees in this photo are in fall colors.

 
 

Gambel oak is Arizona's only oak with oakish leaves: 2 to 6 inches long and deeply lobed like an eastern oak. A deciduous tree, its leaves come out rather late in spring, often in May, and they turn yellow and fall in October. So the growing season at the South Rim is only about five months.       Deer browse the leaves and one-inch acorns. Other mammals and also birds enjoy the relatively sweet acorns. Native peoples utilized this rich source of protein, eating acorns raw or ground into flour, often after soaking overnight. Indians also used the hard, flexible wood for implements and construction.       Each acorn woodpecker clan assiduously and vociferously guards its acorn granary tree (often a nearby conifer snag) against interloping clans.

   

While most South Rim Gambel Oaks are small, this photo shows that the tree can grow large here.

Up to Trees and Shrubs  Ponderosa Pine  Pinyon Pine  Utah Juniper  Gambel Oak  Douglas-fir  Cliffrose  Apache Plume  Mormon Tea  Utah Serviceberry  Fernbush  Wax Currant  Big Sagebrush  Fremont Barberry  Rabbit Brush  Banana Yucca  Utah Agave  Mountain Mahogany Blueberry Elder Rock Mat Brickellbush Buffalo Berry