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Editor's Picks

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Who was Quercus grahamii named in honor of?
Roderick Cameron | Dec 17, 2024
Quercus rubra in autumn
The Tree of the Year Association in Germany selected a non-...
Website Editor | Dec 16, 2024
Image from Enarrationes
A 16th century commentary on the medicinal property of oaks...
Website Editor | Dec 16, 2024

Plant Focus

Quercus magnosquamata acorn
A  little-known species from the northern Zagros forests of Iran

Another Oak on a Stamp

Angela Moskow, IOS member from California, Oak Program Director at California Oaks and editor of their excellent newsletter, alerted me that a stamp featuring an oak had been issued by the United States Postal Service. It's a beauty. Part of a series of 16 stamps consisting of photographs by Ansel Adams, it shows an oak in late fall or early winter, almost leafless, silhouetted against the setting sun.

Ansel Adams Oak Tree Stamp
Stamp featuring Ansel Adams' Oak Tree, Sunset City, Sierra Foothills, California (1962)

The photo is part of Adams' Sunset City Project. He had been commissioned in 1962 to produce publicity photos of scenic features of Whitney Ranch, part of what was intended to be a self-contained metropolis of 100,000 residents called Sunset City. The project was initiated in the late 1950s and funded by Sunset International Petroleum Corporation, which bought up 34,000 acres for this purpose in what is now the city of Rocklin, California, about half an hour northeast of Sacramento on I-80. Sunset abandoned the project in the mid 1960s because of slow real estate sales. Sunset's Assistant Vice President Dale Stringfellow, who hired the renowned naturalist and photographer, remembered seeing him in action. "He thoroughly loved his work," he said. "He would pick a scene and then observe it from dawn to dusk, finding the precise sun angle that suited his eye."

Ansel Adams Sunset City Oak First Day of Issue
First day of issue cover of the Oak Tree stamp, postmarked in Yosemite National Park

The oak appears to be Quercus lobata (valley oak). Or perhaps Q. douglasii (blue oak)? I asked Sean Hogan, who had led the IOS Tour of California earlier this year, and he told me the "gestalt says lobata, but the 'stiffness' could be douglasii". Would any IOS member like to chime in on the ID? Add a comment below! You can take a closer look at Adams' photo here.

Thank you, Angela! The stamp has been added to the blog entry listing Oaks on Postage Stamps. Seems like the list will never end...

Teh set of 16 stamps of Ansel Adamas photos
The set of 16 stamps issued by the United States Postal Service to honor the work of Ansel Adams, "one of the most influential and best-known artists of the 20th century," according to their website​​