Canyon Live Oak Canyon Live Oak Quercus chrysolepis Beech family Contributed by Mary Pyott Canyon live oak is the most widely distributed oak in California. It is shrubby and forms dense thickets on exposed mountain slopes, while tending to grow larger in sheltered canyons, often reaching a height of 30m. In areas of higher precipitation canyon live oak tends to grow on south facing slopes, while in drier parts of the range it prefers north facing slopes.
Canyon live oaks can also grow on many types of soils.
On deep, fine textured soils it is found as a small shrub, while it can be subdominant on deep, coarse-textured soils. Canyon live oak has many types of associated forest cover A stand in shrub form is assigned to the Canyon live oak shrub series or the Interior live oak - canyon live oak shrub series. Canyon live oak is a slow growing tree, often living for 300 years. It is characterized by a short trunk with light gray bark, large spreading horizontal branches and a broad rounded crown. The leaves are thick and feel like they are plastic coated, and they are shiny green on top with yellow or grayish hairs underneath.