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Lithocarpus densiflorus

Common name:	Tanbark Oak	Family:	Fagaceae
Author:	(Hook.&Arn.)Rehder.	Botanical references:	11, 71, 200
Synonyms:	Quercus densiflora (Hook.&Arn.), Pasania densiflora ((Hook.&Arn.)Oerst.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	South-western N. America - Oregon and California.
Habitat:	Woody slopes below 1500 metres[71] on fertile mountain slopes[229]. It is found on a variety of soil types, but requires a humid atmosphere if it is to thrive[82, 229].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	L. densiflorus var. montanus[G] Quercus densiflora var. montana[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Tan-oak [B], Tanoak [P,DEN1],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	densiflorus = densely flowered; florus = flowered;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Fagales. Beech family

Physical Characteristics

An evergreen tree growing to 10m by 10m at a slow rate. It is hardy to zone 7. It is in leaf all year, in flower from April to May. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant). We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Canopy.

Edible Uses

Oil; Seed.

Seed - cooked[94, 95]. The seed was a staple food for several native North American Indian tribes[257]. It contains bitter-tasting tannins and there are various ways of removing them. The fastest is by soaking the ground-up seed in hot water - if the water is changed at least once the tannins should be removed within 12 hours. Traditionally, the seeds were placed in a cloth bag and either buried in swampy ground or suspended in a running stream for a few months. Once the tannins have been removed, the seed is then dried, ground into a powder and can be used as a porridge or can be mixed with cereal flours in baking bread etc[183, 257]. It has a pleasant taste after it has been leached[161]. The seed is up to 25mm long and wide[82, 229].
The seed is valued for its oil[161].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Astringent; Odontalgic; Skin.

The bark is very astringent. An infusion is used as a wash for face sores[257]. The infusion can also be held in the mouth to tighten loose teeth[257].

Other Uses

Dye; Fuel; Preservative; Tannin; Wood.

The bark is exceedingly rich in tannin, yielding up to 29%[11, 82, 123, 171]. It has been used as a brown dye and also to preserve rope that is being used in water[257, K].
Wood - hard, strong, close grained, brittle. It is not commercially important and is used mainly for fuel[82, 229].

Cultivation details

Prefers a deep fertile soil with medium drainage[200].
Perfectly hardy at Kew[11], trees produced seed at Kew in the very hot summer of 1989[K].
A slow-growing tree in the wild, living up to 300 - 350 years old[229].
Plants usually flower in the spring and sometimes again in the autumn[188]. The seeds take two seasons to ripen[229]. Prolific crops are usually produced every other year in the wild[229].

Propagation

The seed is best sown as soon as it is ripe in the autumn in a cold frame[200]. It needs to be protected from mice, squirrels and other seed eaters. The seed has a short viability but can be stored for a few months if kept cool and slightly damp - the salad compartment of a fridge is a good storage place. Germination takes place in the winter or early spring. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots. If the plants are 15cm or more tall by the summer they can be planted out into their permanent positions. Give them a good weed-excluding mulch and some protection from the cold for their first couple of years outdoors. If growth is not sufficient then grow them on in the greenhouse for their first winter and plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

PFAF Web Pages

This plant is mentioned in the following web pages

Web References

[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
Images from the CalPhoto database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database
[DEN] Data _ Photos (Good Identification info) from the Virginia Tech's Dendrology Deptarments' Tree Fact Sheets.

References for the family Fagaceae.

[CHINA] Data Very detailed botanical/identification info. from the Flora of China.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[11] Bean. W. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Murray 1981
A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.

[71] Munz. A California Flora. University of California Press 1959
An excellent flora but no pictures. Not for the casual reader.

[82] Sargent. C. S. Manual of the Trees of N. America. Dover Publications Inc. New York. 1965 ISBN 0-486-20278-X
Two volumes, a comprehensive listing of N. American trees though a bit out of date now. Good details on habitats, some details on plant uses. Not really for the casual reader.

[94] Sweet. M. Common Edible and Useful Plants of the West. Naturegraph Co. 1962 ISBN 0-911010-54-8
Useful wild plants in Western N. America. A pocket guide.

[95] Saunders. C. F. Edible and Useful Wild Plants of the United States and Canada. Dover Publications 1976 ISBN 0-486-23310-3
Useful wild plants of America. A pocket guide.

[123] ? Encyclopaedia Britannica. 15th edition.
It contains a few things of interest to the plant project.

[161] Yanovsky. E. Food Plants of the N. American Indians. Publication no. 237. U.S. Depf of Agriculture.
A comprehensive but very terse guide. Not for the casual reader.

[171] Hill. A. F. Economic Botany. The Maple Press 1952
Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some a bit of detail about the plants it does cover.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[188] Brickell. C. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers Dorling Kindersley Publishers Ltd. 1990 ISBN 0-86318-386-7
Excellent range of photographs, some cultivation details but very little information on plant uses.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[229] Elias. T. The Complete Trees of N. America. Field Guide and Natural History. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. 1980 ISBN 0442238622
A very good concise guide. Gives habitats, good descriptions, maps showing distribution and a few of the uses. It also includes the many shrubs that occasionally reach tree proportions.

[257] Moerman. D. Native American Ethnobotany Timber Press. Oregon. 1998 ISBN 0-88192-453-9
Very comprehensive but terse guide to the native uses of plants. Excellent bibliography, fully referenced to each plant, giving a pathway to further information. Not for the casual reader.

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
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