Description: A deciduous suckering shrub, or small tree with rounded crown, often in dense groves.

Height: 6-20 m

Diameter: 0.3-0.8 m

Leaves: 5-15 cm long, 3-8 cm wide. Elliptical or oblong, rounded at tip, short-pointed at base; deeply 7- to 11-lobed halfway or more to the middle, edges straight or wavy; varying in size, lobing and hairiness. Shiny dark green and usually hairless above, paler and with soft hairs below; turning yellow and reddish in autumn.

Bark: Grey, rough, thick, deeply furrowed or scaly.

Acorns: 12-19 mm long; egg-shaped, about one third enclosed by deep, thick, scaly cup; one or two on short stalk or nearly stalkless; maturing first year.

Habitat: Slopes and valleys, in mountains, foothills, plateaux; scattered with Ponderosa Pine.

Range: N Utah to extreme S Wyoming, south to Trans-Pecos Texas, and west to S Arizona; local in extremem NW Oklahoma and S Nevada; also N Mexico; at 1500-2500 m.

Gambel Oak is the common oak of the Rocky Mountains, abundant in Grand Canyon National Park. It is closely related to the White Oak (Quercus alba L.) of the eastern US. The foliage is browsed by deer. Wild turkeys, squirrels, and other wildlife eat the sweetish acorns. The species is named after William Gambel (1821-1849), a naturalist from Philadelphia. It was introduced to the UK towards the end of the nineteenth century, where it is perfectly hardy, but is rare, being regarded as of little ornamental value.

Information: Audubon (1980), Bean III

Source: Mallet Court Nursery.

Purchased: Two, 1993.11, about 0.4 m, much smaller than expected at the price of £12, owing to lack of sizing info in Mallet Court's catalogue.

Planted: Being far too small to plant out as planned, the trees were kept potted for some time. One was planted a year later, 1994.10.15, on the eastern side of the US strip between our own recent fence and our neighbour's rather older one, at B25Z. Unfortunately, the old fence succumbed to being pushed over by cattle and the tree was trampled. Despite a valiant effort to put up new shoots, we didn't manage to get this fence replaced in time to save the tree. The other one had been abandoned for some time as having died in its pot, when new shoots were noted from the base in spring 1998. The tree was hastily repotted in new compost with slow-release fertiliser, and coddled in the greenhouse. At the end of the 1998 season it was looking happier than expected, and should do OK if the old dead wood is trimmed out. However, by 2004 it was little bigger, seeming to suffer die back every year, which is somewhat at odds with the idea that it is very hardy.

The site of the original intended planting is now occupied by a Sequoiadendron giganteum, and the eventual position of the resurrected tree is somewhat uncertain, but is pencilled in as B16Z.

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