THE LIVE OAK.
Q. agrifolia, Nee.
The live oak (Q. Nee.) called also "Encina," is the huge-limbed, holly-leaved live oak of the lowlands, that reaches its greatest abundance and maximum stature in the valleys south of San Francisco Bay. The giant oaks of the University campus at Berkeley stretch out ponder ous arms, in wayward fashion, that reach far from the stocky trunk and often rest their mighty elbows on the ground. The pointed acorns, usually exceeding an inch in length, are collected by woodpeckers, and tucked away for further reference in holes they make in the bark of the same oaks.
From the mountain slopes to the sea, and from Mendo cino County to Lower California, groves of this semi prostrate giant are found, furnishing abundant supply of fuel, but no lumber of any consequence, because the trunks arc so short and the limbs so crooked.