Common names: Southern live oak, Virginia live oak, bay live oak, scrub live oak, plateau oak, plateau live oak, escarpment live oak, encino, and roble (Spanish term for oak used often in border states).
The live oak is a favorite of homeowners, architects and landscapers, as well as habitat restorers.
The live oak keeps its leaves year-round and most people think of it as an evergreen. However, it drops most of its leaves just before new leaves emerge in the Spring which is around March in Texas.
Live Oak Native Range
Live oak grows in forests of the lower coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico and the lower East Coast of the United States.
Live oaks grow in soils ranging from heavy clay loams to sands with layers of organic materials. The windswept oaks of many coastlines are live oak.
General Characteristics of Live Oak
- Tree Size: large tree, generally wider than tall, without pruning tends to be scrubby with a low canopy
- Exposure: sun to part shade
- Fruit Characteristics: acorns about 3/4″ to 1″
- Height: generally 40-80 feet
- Width: generally 60-100 feet wide
- Plant Character: semi-deciduous, evergreen losing leaves just as new leaves emerge
- Heat Tolerance: very high
- Water Requirements: medium, drought tolerant when mature
- Soil Requirements: prefer acidic loam, but accept most soil including sand and clay, alkaline or acidic soil, wet or well-drained. Live oaks are also tolerant of aerosol salt.
- USDA Hardiness Zones: 7-10
Leaf Shape & Habit
- Leaf Arrangement: Alternate
- Leaf Complexity: Simple
- Leaf Shape: Elliptic, Obovate
- Leaf Venation: Pinnate
- Leaf Margin: Entire
- Leaf Apex: Acute
- Leaf Base: Cuneate, Rounded
Bark, Limbs & Canopy
The live oak’s broad, rounded canopy is picturesque with wide-spreading horizontal and often arching branches.
Its trunk is wide for its height, the largest diameter of any oak. The horizontal branches tend to rest their elbows on the ground as the mighty wind-resistant oak ages.
Flowers, Fruits, & Seeds
Flowers in spring following the end-of-winter leaf drop. Yellow-green to brown tiny barely noticeable flowers form in thin, hanging catkin clusters. Self-pollinated and pollinated by other trees by the wind.
Acorns are round in shape from 3/4″ to 1” long. The acorn cap sits atop the acorn like a beret. The live oak acorn is the classic acorn shape that clipart and cookie cutters are patterned by.
Habitat & Conservation
The live oak is vital for stabilizing the sandy soils of the Gulf Coast as it survives hurricane winds and salty air.
Live oaks provide food, cover from cold and wet conditions as well as predators, and shade for white-tailed deer.
The diverse migratory bird species that come through popular birding areas such as Padre Island and other Texas wildlife refuges along the coast and in the lower Rio Grande Valley depend directly on live oak forests. As the migratory songbirds pass through in the spring and as they return to their wintering grounds, the live oak forests and mottes are the perfect stopover habitat. The oaks prove good cover for resting and an abundance of insects for food.
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