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United States / Grow / California black oak

California black oak

Quercus kelloggii · Fagaceae · all Quercus records · also called Quercus kelloggii · Wikipedia

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Is this one for your yard?

Enter your ZIP to see whether this is legal to plant in your state, and whether it survives your winter.

Form
tree
Mature height
~85 ft
Water need
moderate
Rated in
Global
On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence
Mixed evidence — location does not change the cited classification.
Evidence regions
Global

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution
Documented in CA, OR.
Native range
Current cited native range in CA, OR.
USDA hardiness
Documented minimum 6b; no upper limit is documented.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

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.

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

2

exact source areas

Current introduced

0

exact source areas

Qualified

0

doubtful or extinct source rows

2 native source areas · World Checklist of Vascular Plants, version 16 v16, as of 2026-06-04
  • California (CA)
  • Oregon (OR)

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.

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.

Listed without a rating (44)
Corroboration (44 rows from 1 source)

  • FLAMITS: FLAMmability plant traiTS database — Dryad / Global Ecology and Biogeography · Dryad version 9 · original source Corroboration Trait database lineage: meta-aggregator

    44 cited rows from this source; its identity, lineage and tier are stated once.

    • Primary study deMagalhaes2012: De Magalhães, R. M. Q., & Schwilk, D. W. (2012). Leaf traits and litter flammability: evidence for non-additive mixture effects in a temperate forest. Journal of Ecology, 100, 1153-1163.

      Shared row context: plant part litter; fuel all; predrying no; device burning bench; site deMagalhaes2012-1; sampling summer.

      • “time to flaming (s): 1.2”

        FLAMITS record 2634; Ignitability measurement.

      • Shared measurement context: Sustainability measurement.

        • “burning duration (s): 595.5”

          FLAMITS record 2642.

        • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 0.44”

          FLAMITS record 2650.

      • “flame height (cm): 95.9”

        FLAMITS record 2658; Combustibility measurement.

      • “burnt biomass (%): 89.2”

        FLAMITS record 2666; Consumability measurement.

    • Primary study Engber2012: Engber, E. A., & Varner, J. M. (2012). Patterns of flammability of the California oaks: the role of leaf traits. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 42, 1965-1975.

      Shared row context: plant part litter; fuel all; predrying yes; device burning bench; site Engber2012-1; sampling ND.

      • “flame height (cm): 83”

        FLAMITS record 3237; Combustibility measurement.

      • Shared measurement context: Sustainability measurement.

        • “flaming duration (s): 34.1”

          FLAMITS record 3255.

        • “smouldering duration (s): 233.3”

          FLAMITS record 3291.

      • “burnt biomass (%): 92.3”

        FLAMITS record 3273; Consumability measurement.

    • Primary study deMagalhaes2017: de Magalhães, R. (2017). The effect of leaf traits on litter flammability in mixed-conifer forest. PhD. Dissertation. Texas Tech University.

      Shared row context: plant part litter; fuel all; predrying no; device burning bench; site deMagalhaes2017-1; sampling ND.

      • Shared measurement context: Ignitability measurement.

        • “time to flaming (s): 2.38”

          FLAMITS record 16981.

        • “time to flaming (s): 4.52”

          FLAMITS record 16982.

        • “time to flaming (s): 3.37”

          FLAMITS record 16983.

        • “time to flaming (s): 2.11”

          FLAMITS record 16984.

        • “time to flaming (s): 3.8”

          FLAMITS record 16985.

        • “time to flaming (s): 5.05”

          FLAMITS record 16986.

        • “time to flaming (s): 6.91”

          FLAMITS record 16987.

      • Shared measurement context: Sustainability measurement.

        • “burning duration (s): 303.23”

          FLAMITS record 16988.

        • “burning duration (s): 329.57”

          FLAMITS record 16989.

        • “burning duration (s): 258.98”

          FLAMITS record 16990.

        • “burning duration (s): 386.19”

          FLAMITS record 16991.

        • “burning duration (s): 340.53”

          FLAMITS record 16992.

        • “burning duration (s): 108.96”

          FLAMITS record 16993.

        • “burning duration (s): 159”

          FLAMITS record 16994.

        • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 0.609”

          FLAMITS record 17009.

        • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 0.521”

          FLAMITS record 17010.

        • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 0.328”

          FLAMITS record 17011.

        • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 0.466”

          FLAMITS record 17012.

        • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 0.571”

          FLAMITS record 17013.

        • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 0.246”

          FLAMITS record 17014.

        • “rate of burning spread (cm/s): 0.221”

          FLAMITS record 17015.

      • Shared measurement context: Combustibility measurement.

        • “flame height (cm): 872”

          FLAMITS record 16995.

        • “flame height (cm): 878”

          FLAMITS record 16996.

        • “flame height (cm): 610”

          FLAMITS record 16997.

        • “flame height (cm): 846”

          FLAMITS record 16998.

        • “flame height (cm): 876”

          FLAMITS record 16999.

        • “flame height (cm): 392”

          FLAMITS record 17000.

        • “flame height (cm): 390”

          FLAMITS record 17001.

      • Shared measurement context: Consumability measurement.

        • “burnt biomass (%): 93”

          FLAMITS record 17002.

        • “burnt biomass (%): 92.09”

          FLAMITS record 17003.

        • “burnt biomass (%): 67.25”

          FLAMITS record 17004.

        • “burnt biomass (%): 90.54”

          FLAMITS record 17005.

        • “burnt biomass (%): 84”

          FLAMITS record 17006.

        • “burnt biomass (%): 46.11”

          FLAMITS record 17007.

        • “burnt biomass (%): 47.35”

          FLAMITS record 17008.

Fire-resistant trees instead

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Populus nigra 'Italica' boxelder
Acer negundo honeylocust
Gleditsia triacanthos Oregon white oak
Quercus garryana
Same genus in the directory · the Quercus group page

Last verified 2026-08-25. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

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

Quercus kelloggii (Quercus kelloggii). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/quercus-kelloggii/. Last verified 2026-08-25.