Live Oak

Quercus virginiana

The range of the Live Oak extends from southeastern Virginia through the Atlantic and Gulf coastal regions into Texas and Mexico. All of Florida is included in this range except for some of the Keys. This tree is striking because of its wide-spreading canopy, sometimes reaching more than 100 feet. The stout trunk, three to four feet in diameter, divides into several large limbs with nearly horizontal branches, forming a low, dense, round-topped crown reaching 60 to 80 feet.

The roughly ridged bark on the trunk and large branches is dark brown tinged with red. Live oak reaches its largest size on the rich hammocks and low ridges near the coast only a few feet above the water level.

The leaves are simple, alternate, evergreen, leathery, and oblong without lobes. They are smooth above, pale and silvery beneath due to a dense coating of minute star-shaped hairs, and from one to six inches long and one-half to two inches wide.

The fruit is an acorn about an inch long and one-third inch wide, borne on a stalk; it is oblong, dark brown and lustrous, and set in a top-shaped, downy cup of a light reddish brown color.

The wood is very heavy, hard, tough, and light brown or yellow, with nearly white sapwood. Prized for ship building in the past, Live Oak is now primarily used as an ornamental shade tree.

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Tree information provided with permission of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services for more information visit https://www.fdacs.gov/.