Alternate name: Coastal Live Oak, Southern Live Oak

Family: Fagaceae, Beech view all from this family

Description Medium-sized evergreen tree with short, broad trunk buttressed at the base forking into a few nearly horizontal, long branches, and very broad, spreading, dense crown.
Height: 40-50' (12-15 m).
Diameter: 2-4' (0.6-1.2 m).
Leaves: evergreen; 1 1/2-4" (4-10 cm) long, 3/8-2" (1-5 cm) wide. Elliptical or oblong; thick; rounded tip sometimes ending in tiny tooth; base short-pointed; edges usually straight and slightly rolled under, rarely, with few spiny teeth. Shiny dark green above, gray-green and densely hairy beneath; shedding after new leaves appear in spring.
Bark: dark brown; rough, deeply furrowed into scaly ridges.
Acorns: 5/8-1" (1.5-2.5 cm) long; narrow and oblong, 1/4-1/2 enclosed by deep cup; green becoming brown; long-stalked; maturing first year.

Habitat Sandy soils including coastal dunes and ridges near marshes; often in pure stands.

Range SE. Virginia south to S. Florida and west to S. and central Texas; local in SW. Oklahoma and NE. Mexico; to 300' (91 m) and in Texas to 2000' (610 m).

Discussion Live Oak timber was once important for building ships. The nation's first publicly owned timber lands were purchased as early as 1799 to preserve these trees for this purpose. Called Live Oak because of the evergreen foliage. The very broad branches are usually draped with Spanish-moss. A handsome shade tree, popular in the Southeast, where it attains very large size. Texas Live Oak (Q. fusiformis), a western species found in central Texas and local in southwestern Oklahoma and northeastern Mexico, has slightly smaller leaves, broadest toward the base, and acorns with cups narrowed at the base. It was , formerly considered a variety of Q. virginiana.