SSBMI Language Department

• Hámsɨ typically live 100-200 years, but some trees live as long as 500 years.

• You can identify hámsɨ by its deeply-lobed leaves, which divide into 5-7 lobes, and by its thick, black bark which is the source of its English name "black oak".

• Speakers of different Nisenan dialects call black oak by different names. In the Valley dialect, it is called hámsɨ. In the Southern Hill dialect, it is called pahá. The Matriarchs of the SSBMI Community spoke these dialects.

• Hámsɨ typically grows at higher elevations than do other oak species like pikí (blue oak) and pallá (valley oak). However, in some places, like the Rancheria, all three of these kinds of oak trees overlap in their range.
• The uutí (acorns) of hámsɨ are the most prized of all oak trees. Nisenan people from the valley would trade with people from the mountains for hámsɨ.

Esak’ahá daak’ábe mi c’aykɨ́ɨ? (Do you want to know more?) This webpage is part of a larger initiative to share signage highlighting plants found around the Shingle Springs Rancheria and their Nisenan names.