Coast Live Oaks
Many visitors when they first enter the natural area will look around and wonder, if this is the Elfin Forest, where are the trees? Most of the Coast Live Oak trees are located at the north end of the property and all entrances are from the south. As you walk around the boardwalk loop you will come to the oak trees.
However, you might not recognize the oak trees because they are so different. These oaks do not have the large, flat lobed leaves you might be used to seeing and are not deciduous (meaning they go dormant in the winter and all their leaves drop to the ground). Instead, Coastal Live Oaks are evergreen year-round. Their leaves are much smaller, often curled under, have sharp points along the edges and resemble holly leaves. During drought or other stressors, the curling of leaves is more pronounced. The Coast Live Oaks produce acorns every year.
The Coast Live oaks are often wider than they are tall with limbs sprawling horizontally along the ground. Leaves grown at the edge of the canopy, leaving the center mostly empty. You will notice this at #14 on the boardwalk where the boardwalk extends into an oak grove with benches inside. Although they make look sturdy, please do not climb on the trees.
The oaks in the Elfin Forest are pygmy Coastal Live Oak Trees. The name “Elfin Forest” comes from the short stature of the Coast Live Oaks. Here they are stunted by the local environment. Despite being centuries old, these oaks range from a high of 20 feet in sheltered areas to a low of 4 feet in more exposed areas. Further inland the same species can grow to as tall as 50 feet at the Los Osos Oaks State Natural Reserve.
Selena Carroll
New Leaves and Catkins
New oak leaves are red as seen above and turn green as they grow. Notice the long structures which are covered with little balls. Those are catkins which are the male flowers of the tree. The wind will distribute their pollen. A tree will have both male and female flowers. A single, tiny female flower will grow at a leaf junction and are hard to see.
Dylan Wheeler
Acorns
There is an acorn crop every year in the Elfin Forest. Initially they are green, but when mature turn brown and drop to the ground where they quickly disappear. They are a major food source for many animals, including deer, woodrats, rabbits, squirrels and birds. Acorns contain bitter tannins, which are water soluble. The native Chumash people would put pulverized acorns in tightly woven baskets and place them in a stream to leach out the bitterness.
Levison Mcdougall
Leaves
These leaves have sharp stickers at the ends of the primary lateral veins. A characteristic that is unique to Coast Live Oak leaves is that they have “hairy armpits”. In the angle between the midrib and the primary lateral veins there are tufts of fragile hairs.
Adele Lopez
Bark
The bark of Coast Live Oaks changes as the tree grows and matures. Younger branches as the one on the left are smooth and you can see the white lichen growing on it. The older branch on the right is furrowed with many small cracks.
Selena Carroll
Branches On The Ground
It is typical of Coast Live Oaks to send branches out horizontally at ground level. Notice how these trees have branches sprawling along the ground. Because the canopy of the oaks are so wide less light penetrates the center of a grove and few plants grow there.
Izaak Travis
Old Tree
This is one of the oldest trees in the Elfin Forest and is probably a couple of hundred years old. You can see the bark is starting to crack open along the main trunk.