Southern live oak

Southern Live Oak

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Southern live oak

Quercus virginiana, also known as the Southern Live Oak, is an evergreen or nearly evergreen oak

Oak

The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus , which are listed in the List of Quercus species, and some related genera, notably Lithocarpus....
tree

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
native to the southeastern

Southeastern United States

The US Southeast is the eastern portion of the Southern United States, but the Census Bureau does not provide a standard definition of a "Southeast" region of the United States, and organizations that need to subdivide the US are free to define a "Southeast" region to fit their needs....
United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. A large number of other common names are used for this tree, including Virginia live oak, bay live oak, scrub live oak, plateau oak, plateau live oak, escarpment live oak, and (in Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
) Encino. It is also often just called live oak within its native area, but the full name Southern live oak ( Flora of North America) helps to distinguish it from other live oak

Live oak

Live oak or evergreen oak is a general term for a number of unrelated oaks in several different sections of the genus Quercus that happen to share the characteristic of evergreen foliage....
s, a general term for any species of oak that is evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
.

This profusion of common names partly reflects an ongoing controversy about the classification of various live oaks, in particular its near relatives among the white oaks (Quercus subgenus

Subgenus

Discussion

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Encyclopedia

Quercus virginiana, also known as the Southern Live Oak, is an evergreen or nearly evergreen oak

Oak

TREE

TREE was a Boston hardcore punk band formed in the summer of 1990. They were active in the Boston music scene until disbanding in 2002....
native to the southeastern

Southeastern United States

United States

Spanish language

Live oak

Evergreen

Subgenus

In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. See rank and rank .In ICZN, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a binomen, in parentheses, placed between the name of a biological genus and specific name: e.g....
Quercus, section Quercus). Some authors recognize as distinct species forms that others consider to be varieties of Quercus virginiana. Notably, the following two taxa, treated as species in the Flora of North America, are treated as varieties of Southern live oak by the United States Forest Service

United States Forest Service

The USDA Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 United States National Forest and 20 United States National Grassland....
: the Texas live oak

Texas live oak

Quercus fusiformis , commonly known as Texas Live Oak, is an evergreen or nearly evergreen tree native to the southern United States. In Texas, it occurs from about Corpus Christi, Texas west to the Pecos River, north to southern Oklahoma, and also south into adjacent northeastern Mexico in Coahuila and Nuevo Le?n....
, Quercus fusiformis (a.k.a. Q. virginiana var. fusiformis) and the Sand live oak, Quercus geminata (a.k.a. Q. virginiana var. geminata).

Matters are further complicated by the fact that Southern live oak hybridizes with both the above two species, and also with dwarf live oak (Q. minima), swamp white oak

Swamp White Oak

The Swamp White Oak , is a species of oak in the List of Quercus species#Section Quercus Quercus section Quercus, primarily found in the Midwestern and Eastern Seaboard regions of North America, from southernmost Quebec and southern Maine west to southern Minnesota....
(Q. bicolor), Durand oak (Q. durandi), overcup oak

Overcup Oak

Quercus lyrata is an oak in the List of Quercus species#Section Quercus group . It is native to lowland wetlands in the Southeastern United States United States, from Delaware and southern Illinois south to northern Florida and southeast Texas....
(Q. lyrata), bur oak

Bur oak

The Bur Oak, , sometimes spelled Burr Oak, is a species of oak in the List of Quercus species#Section Quercus Quercus sect. Quercus, native to North America in the eastern and midwestern United States and south-central Canada....
(Q. macrocarpa), and post oak

Post oak

Quercus stellata is an oak in the white oaks group. It is a small tree, typically 10?15 m tall and 30?60 cm trunk diameter, though occasional specimens reach 30 m tall and 140 cm diameter....
(Q. stellata).

Range

Typical Southern live oaks are found from southeast Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia is an United States U.S. state on the East Coast of the United States of the Southern United States. The state is known as the "Old Dominion" and sometimes as "Mother of Presidents", because it is the birthplace of Lists of United States Presidents by place of birth#By state....
to Florida

Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
, including the Florida Keys

Florida Keys

The Florida Keys are an archipelago of about 1700 islands in the southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, Florida, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, Florida, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry Tort...
, and west to southeast Texas

Texas

Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
. Texas live oaks grow primarily in Texas, on the Edwards Plateau and the Rio Grande Plain, but can be found as far west as Terrell County, Texas

Terrell County, Texas

Terrell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. In 2000, its population was 1,081. Its county seat is Sanderson, Texas. The county was named for Alexander W....
, in southwestern Oklahoma

Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a U.S. state and a sovereignty located in the South Central United States and Southern United States of the United States of America ....
and northeastern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
. Sand live oaks grow from North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north....
to Florida

Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
in the east and Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Deep South of the United States. Jackson, Mississippi is the state capital and largest city. The state's name comes from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, and takes its name from the Anishinaabe language word misi-ziibi ....
in the west.

Description

Depending on the growing conditions, live oaks vary from the shrubby to large and spreading: typical open-grown trees reach 15 metres (50 feet) in height, but may span nearly 50 metres. Their lower limbs often sweep down towards the ground before curving up again. They can grow at severe angles, and Native Americans

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii....
used to bend saplings over so that they would grow at extreme angles, to serve as trail markers. They drop their leaves, and grow new ones, within a few weeks in spring. The bark is furrowed longitudinally, and the acorns are small, but long and tapered. Trees frequently have rounded clumps of ball moss or thick drapings of Spanish moss

Spanish Moss

Spanish moss closely resembles its namesake . However, Spanish moss is not biologically related to either mosses or lichens. Instead, it is a flowering plant in the family Bromeliaceae that grows hanging from tree branches in full sun or partial shade....
, and mistletoe

Mistletoe

Mistletoe is the common name for a group of parasitic plant plants in the Order Santalales that grow attached to and within the branches of a tree or shrub....
is often found on them.

Southern live oak can grow in moist to dry sites. They can withstand occasional floods and hurricanes, and are resistant to salt spray and moderate soil salinity. They tend to survive fire, because often a fire will not reach their crown

Crown (botany)

The crown of a plant refers to the totality of the plant's aboveground parts, including Plant stem, leaves, and Plant morphology. The crown of woody plants is the branches, twigs and leaves extending from the trunk or main stems....
s. Even if a tree is burned, its crowns and roots usually survive the fire and sprout vigorously. Furthermore live oak forests discourage entry of fire from adjacent communities because they provide dense cover that discourages the growth of a flammable understory. Although they grow best in well-drained sandy soils and loams, they will also grow in clay. Live oaks are also surprisingly hardy. Those of southern provenance can easily be grown in USDA zone 7 and the Oklahoma Live Oak (Quercus virginiana var. fusiformis), having the same evergreen foliage as the Southern variety, can be grown with success in areas as cold as zone 6. Even with significant winter leaf burn, these trees can make a strong comeback during the growing season in more northerly areas such New Jersey, southern Ohio, and southern Connecticut.

Among the animals for which live oak acorns are an important food source are the bobwhite quail

Bobwhite Quail

The Northern Bobwhite, Virginia Quail or Bobwhite Quail is a ground-dwelling bird native to North America and northern Central America and the Caribbean....
, the threatened Florida scrub jay

Florida Scrub Jay

The Florida Scrub Jay is one of the species of scrub jay native to North America. It is the only species of bird Endemism in birds to the U.S. state of Florida....
, the wood duck

Wood Duck

The Wood Duck or Carolina Duck is a medium-sized perching duck. A typical adult is about 19 inches in length with an average wingspan of 29 inches....
, yellow-bellied sapsucker

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker

The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Sphyrapicus varius, is a medium-sized woodpecker....
, wild turkey

Wild Turkey

The Wild Turkey is native to North America and is the heaviest member of the Galliformes. It is one of two species of turkey , the other being the Ocellated Turkey, found in Central America....
, black bear

American black bear

The American Black Bear is the most common bear species native to North America. It lives throughout much of the continent, from northern Alaska south into Mexico and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean....
, various species of squirrel

Squirrel

File:Eichh?rnchen D?sseldorf Hofgarten edit.jpgA squirrel is one of many small or medium-sized rodents in the family Sciuridae. In the English language-speaking world, squirrel commonly refers to members of this family's genus Sciurus and Tamiasciurus, which are tree squirrels with large bushy tails, indigenous to Asia, the America...
, and the white-tailed deer

White-tailed Deer

File:Wtdfishwild.jpgThe white-tailed deer , also known as the Virginia deer, or simply as the whitetail, is a medium-sized deer native to all but five states in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Central America, and northern portions of South America as far south as Peru....
. Native Americans extracted an oil from the acorns. The tree crown is very dense, making it valuable for shade, and the species provides nest sites for many other species.

Shipbuilding

Live oak wood is hard, heavy, and difficult to work, but very strong. In the days of wooden ships, live oaks were the preferred source of the framework timbers of the ship, using the natural trunk and branch angles for their strength. The USS Constitution

USS Constitution

USS Constitution is a wooden-hull ed, three-Mast heavy frigate of the United States Navy. Named after the United States Constitution by President George Washington, she is the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world. is the oldest commissioned vessel by three decades; however, Victory is permanently drydo...
was constructed from Southern live oak wood harvested from St. Simons Island, Georgia, and the density of the wood grain allowed it to survive cannonade; even today the U.S. Navy owns extensive live oak tracts.

=Care= Southern live oak care is very easy, it requires very little watering while it's young, and after it is 4 to 5 feet tall. Watering can be forgotten, and no more care is required.

Preservation

Southern live oak is long-lived. Trees in excess of 500 years were once common, and one, the Angel Oak

Angel Oak

The Angel Oak is a Southern live oak tree located in Angel Oak Park, in Charleston, South Carolina, on Johns Island, South Carolina, one of South Carolina's Sea Islands....
on Johns Island, South Carolina

Johns Island, South Carolina

John's Island, also spelled Johns Island, is one of the many Sea Islands along the coast of South Carolina. Located to the west of James Island and to the east of Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina and inshore of Seabrook Island and Kiawah Island....
is estimated at 1400 years of age; it is 20 m tall, 2.47 m diameter, and with a maximum spread (longest branch) of 27 m; the crown covers an area of 1,580 m².

Southern live oak

Range

Description

Shipbuilding

Preservation

See also

Footnotes

External links