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Gambel Oak

Quercus gambelii · Fagaceae · all Quercus records

Your local evidence lens

Separate evidence questions, never one approval badge

Set a ZIP to compare this record with state distribution, native range, USDA hardiness, and invasive records.

A genus split is not a placement verdict. Set a ZIP to read the local documented split.

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence
Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions
1 condition stated in cited fire-evidence rows.
Fire ecology context
3 cited FEIS topics across 3 dimensions; context only, never a rating vote.
Placement evidence
1 source placement record; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions
Colorado, California, and northeastern United States; Global; southern Idaho / Intermountain
Maintenance
No sourced horticultural maintenance assertion is normalized; fire-test conditions do not supply maintenance advice.
Typed publication scope: 1 scope across 1 cited fire source
  • Fire Resistance of Plants Master Database · Official scoped edition
    • Southern Idaho (ID footprint); partial normalized coverage · 2013-11-08

      The official database labels itself "For Southern Idaho" and describes Idaho residents at the urban-rangeland interface. FireApproved publishes 419 existing plant owners that cite its scored rows. This bounded Southern Idaho scope is regional context, not statewide coverage or a conclusion that the score transfers unchanged to every Idaho site.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution
Documented in AZ, CO, ID, NM, NV, OK, SD, TX, UT, WY.
Native range
Current cited native range in AZ, CO, NM, NV, OK, TX, UT, WY.
Introduced / established
No introduced or established row is normalized; that does not prove native status.
USDA hardiness
Documented minimum 2b; no upper limit is documented.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

Legal-list status
Set a location for an exact legal-list result; source silence is not clearance.
Seed-list status
Set a location to compare the separate state noxious-weed seed layer.
Reported invasive here
No ecological invasive report is normalized; that does not prove noninvasiveness.
Broader regional context
Aggregate AK, HI, and L48 evidence is shown only as regional context, never as an exact-state finding.
Federal context
Federal designations remain separate from state legal-list results.
How to read this page

The status above is computed from the cited rows below: independent recommendations can support a fire-resistant result, an avoid row can produce keep-away, and disagreement stays visible as conflict. Placement notes preserve each source’s own scheme rather than translating unlike rules into one scale. This is evidence about a plant, not permission to plant it in every part of the defensible space; Zone 0 remains noncombustible.

Gambel Oak (Quercus gambelii)
Photo: no rights reserved, uploaded by Rod (CC0), via iNaturalist. Species-typical, not necessarily this cultivar.
Form
tree
USDA hardiness
Minimum 2b; upper limit not documented
Mature height
~40 ft
Water need
low
Current cited native range
AZ, CO, NM, NV, OK, TX, UT, WY
Grows in
AZ, CO, ID, NM, NV, OK, SD, TX +2
Rated in
Colorado, California, and northeastern United States; Global; southern Idaho / Intermountain
Family
Fagaceae
Evidence
68 cited sources

Native and introduced range evidence

These are exact U.S. botanical-area records from the cited range source. Native and introduced describe biogeographic relationship, not fire performance or planting approval. Doubtful and extinct rows stay visible but do not count as current presence.

Current native

8

exact source areas

Current introduced

0

exact source areas

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

8 native source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04
  • Arizona (AZ)
  • Colorado (CO)
  • New Mexico (NM)
  • Nevada (NV)
  • Oklahoma (OK)
  • Texas (TX)
  • Utah (UT)
  • Wyoming (WY)

The lossless worldwide derivative is retained once in the research corpus; object pages repeat only exact U.S. areas needed by the local lens. The JSON twin carries the same page assertions.

Plant hardiness evidence

These values describe the plant source. Your ZIP zone comes from the separate 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Whole-zone values stay whole-zone, and a single unresolved value is not treated as a tolerance range. Different source boundaries stay separate: overlapping statements are compared independently, while only ranges with no shared zone are called a conflict.

Conditions in the fire evidence

These describe tested or rated plant material. They are not horticultural maintenance instructions.

Fire ecology context

The Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System synthesizes how this exact taxon responds to wildland fire and occurs in fire-shaped ecosystems. This literature context does not rate a maintained landscape plant, does not change the computed classification above, and is not a substitute for building-adjacent placement guidance.

USDA Forest Service FEIS · review QUEGAM

Quercus gambelii, Gambel oak

  • Immediate fire effect. Fire may top-kill Gambel oak; tree forms are less susceptible in low-severity fire than shrubs whose branches sit near surface fuels. (Immediate Fire Effects)
  • Postfire response. Fire commonly stimulates vigorous sprouting from protected rhizomes and lignotubers, often beginning in the first growing season. (Plant Response to Fire)
  • Fuels and condition. Dense understories can function as ladder fuels beneath ponderosa pine, while conifer encroachment adds resinous foliage and persistent litter. (Fire Ecology and Fire Adaptations)

Source taxon: Quercus gambelii · exact scientific name · review written 2000-02 · page updated 2025-05-30 · source record

Where its sources say to plant it

Placement rules below use each source's own distances or named zones, tied to its rating. They are not interchangeable with the directory's current Zone 0 guidance.

The evidence

Grouped by what each source concluded. Primary evidence rated the plant itself (a lab, field program, or original curation); corroboration compiled or republished another source's rating and resolves to its root lineage.

Recommends (1)

Mid-scale / conditional (1)

Listed without a rating (66)

Same genus in the directory · the Quercus group page

Last verified 2026-08-23. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

Profiles: USDA PLANTS · GBIF · iNaturalist · Wikidata · ITIS

Quercus gambelii (Gambel Oak). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/quercus-gambelii/. Last verified 2026-08-23.