[3] It is endemic to California, where it grows in the chaparral and oak woodlands of mountain slopes in the western Transverse Ranges, the southernmost Central Coast Ranges, and the margins of the Mojave Desert.

[4] The species is named after John M. Tucker, professor of botany (1947–1986) at the University of California at Davis, specialist in Quercus.

[3] Quercus john-tuckeri is a bushy shrub growing up to 2 to 5 meters (6+1⁄2 to 16+1⁄2 feet) in height, sometimes becoming treelike, exceeding 6 m (20 ft).

The branches are gray or brown, the twigs coated in short woolly fibers when new and becoming scaly with age.

The leaf blade is roughly oval, spine-toothed, and less than 4 centimeters (1+1⁄2 inches) long.