Valley Oak

Valley Oak
Valley Oak branch	Valley Oak leaves
Valley Oak bark	Valley Oak gall

Height: 120 feet tall

Native to America

Facts: Oaks belong to the Beech Tree Family. The thick moist bark is protection against fire and insects. One oak tree can provide enough oxygen for eight people a year. It takes fifty years for an oak tree to get its acorns. It will drop 50,000 of them, yearly. It will do this for 100 years. out of this 50,000 acorns, only one will make it to be a seedling. Oak trees live 200 to 400 years! The galls, pictured above, grow naturally on oak trees. At first a wasp will lay its eggs on the tip of an oak tree branch. In self defense, the tree automatically starts to grow a layer of protection. Then, this protection turns into the wasps nest. The Valley Oak Tree's leaves are lobed.

Acorns were an important part of many Native American diets. Both Coastal Oak and Valley Oak Acorns are poisonous. In order to eat them the poison had to be leached out, usually by soaking them in water for a period of time.