Description
Botanical Name: Quercus virginiana
Common Name: Southern Live Oak, Coastal Live Oak, Virginia Live Oak, Live Oak, Encino
Description: One of the most well known trees that grow in the South is the Southern Live Oak. They are simply majestic trees that we are lucky to have as one of our native keystone trees.
When given enough room to grow, their sweeping limbs plunge toward the ground before shooting upward, creating an impressive array of branches. Crowns of the largest southern live oaks can reach diameters of 150′. On average, though, the crown spread is 80′ and the height is 50′. Branches usually stem from a single trunk, which can grow to five or six feet in diameter. Even though we may think of them as evergreen, for a couple of weeks in the spring they shed their old leaves as they new leaves emerge. Sweet, tapered acorns produced by the trees are eaten by birds and mammals, including sapsuckers, mallards, wild turkeys, squirrels, black bears, and deer. The threatened Florida scrub jay relies on the scrub form of the southern live oak for nesting. Other birds make use of the moss that frequently hangs from the tree branches to construct nests. Hummingbirds are attracted to and eat the pollen of its flowers. Is the host plant for Horace’s Duskywing, White M hairstreak, and Northern hairstreak.
They are fast growing trees when young, but the growth rate slows as they age. Grows just fine in dry to moist soils, whether gravelly, sandy, loamy, or clay. Its native habitat is tropical rockland hammock, pine rockland in fire-suppressed areas and near tropical rockland hammock, upper edges of floodplains, margins of ponds and lakes, levees and second bottoms, secondary woods, roadsides, mesic to dry mesic hammock. Can be planted in sun, part sun, or part shade areas of your garden. Is drought tolerant. The leaves are deer and rabbit resistant.
Tolerant of occasional/brief inundation such as can occur in storm surges. Moderately tolerant of salty wind and some salt spray.
This plant in 3-gallon containers is 1.5 – 4 feet tall.
This plant in 7-gallon containers is 4 – 6 feet tall.
Plant Lore: The Houma used some preparation from it to treat dysentery.
Florida Hardiness Zones 8 – 11
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