For centuries the native coast live oaks, or Quercus agrifolia, have spread their gnarled limbs and gracefully rounded crowns on the lower slopes of the Berkeley hills. On the central campus prominent groups still stand in Faculty Glade, where they once formed a contiguous canopy of interlocking boughs—within the western grove that shelters the pathway entrance from Center Street—and on Observatory Hill, a remnant of oak savanna. Their massive, twisted forms also intertwine with campus culture and tradition. Prominent among them are:

LeConte Oak stands near Strawberry Creek in the western grove, the present tree having replaced an old oak considered among the most treasured of natural endowments. The Class of 1898 placed a bronze plaque on the trunk of that original tree, dedicating it to eminent brothers John LeConte, physics professor and third president of the University, and Joseph LeConte, geology and natural history professor. The plaque was rededicated on a granite block at the base of the oak by the senior class in 1904. The Order of the Golden Bear honor society maintained the homage with an annual wreath-laying procession to the site. Diseased and partially destroyed by high winds in 1933, the aged oak held on as a tall, limbless stump until it was fi nally removed in 1939. "A grave-like mound of fresh earth covered the site," the Daily Californian mourned. Remnants of the cherished tree were crafted into honorary gavels by the California Alumni Association.

Senior Oak stood upstream near the football statue, its exact location now unmarked. Also called Senior Tree, it was designated in 1900, when men of the senior class began meeting under the oaks every Tuesday evening for an informal "jolly up" to sing college songs, smoke, and talk over campus events. Immortalized in its own song, the oak was the place where:

Singing fills the air
Till we wake the campus echoes, and
The echoes wake the Bear.

It was an important landmark on the annual Senior Pilgrimage, where class presidents bid farewell to each graduating class.

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