Live Oak

( Quercus virginiana )

Landscape Index Page Native landscape trees Native landscape shrubs

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Pictures left to right - Live oak, Live oak Hammock, Bark, Leaf, Variation on leaf form.

Family - Fagaceae

Natural Habitat - Coastal & Inland Hammocks, Floodplains, on moist sandy soils.

Planting Zones - 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Description - Florida native tree with large, often horizontal spreading branches. Reaches 50 to 60 feet in height x 100 ft. or more in spread, with a stout, buttressed trunk. Bark is reddish-brown to black, furrowed, becomes blocky with age.

Leaves are alternate, oblong to elliptical, dark green & leathery with entire margins. Leaves of "sucker" shoots and saplings tend to be shallowly lobed or toothed.

Flowers in spring are on catkins, as is typical of the oaks. Fruit (acorns) mature the same season. Acorns of the Live oak are an important wildlife food source and the tree is host to a number of epiphytic species, including native orchids & Spanish moss.

Landscape Use - Live oak excels as a shade tree for large areas, acorns attract wildlife.

Culture -  Full sun to partial shade, prefers rich, moist, sandy, well drained slightly acidic soil, but tolerates alkaline pH. Very salt tolerant and high wind resistance. A long lived tree, with its age measured in centuries. Should be pruned when young to develop a single trunk and to eliminate branches which form a deep "V" angle in relation to the trunk. Young Live oak trees are fast growing under good conditions, adding up to 3 feet of height in a single year.