Quercus dumosa Nutt.

Shrubs , subevergreen, 1-2(-2.5) m, dense, divaricately branching, leaves brittle, often falling when branches disturbed. Bark smooth when young, eventually scaly. Twigs reddish or grayish, 1-1.5(-2) mm diam., glabrous or sparsely stellate-pubescent, soon glabrate. Buds reddish brown, globose or ovoid, 1-2 mm, glabrous, rarely puberulent near apex. Leaves: petiole 1-2(-3) mm. Leaf blade undulate or strongly to moderately cupped, occasionally subplanar, 10-20(-25) × 6-15(-20) mm, base cordate or angular-cordate, margins irregularly spinose-toothed or shallowly lobed, rarely entire, often somewhat revolute, secondary veins 3-5(-6) on each side, irregularly branched, apex rounded or spinose-acute; surfaces abaxially sparsely to densely covered with erect, curly, (2-)4(-6)-rayed fasciculate hairs to 0.5 mm, felty to touch in young leaves, adaxially glossy green, glabrate or with scattered stellate hairs, secondary veins somewhat impressed, puberulent. Acorns solitary or paired, subsessile; cup reddish, deeply cup-shaped, 5-8 mm deep × 8-15 mm wide, enclosing 1/3 nut or less, scales long-acute, moderately or scarcely tuberculate at base; nut fusiform or subcylindric, 10-20(-30) × 5-10(-12) mm, apex acute. Cotyledons distinct.

Open chaparral, coastal sage scrub; at elevations up to 300 metres.

The acorns are ground into a fine powder and used to make bread. Sometimes they are leached. They can also be stored for later use.

Can be grown by seedlings.