Quercus laevis

turkey oak

Fagaceae

Plant Specifics

Form:

tree

Size:

30-40 ft tall by 10-15 ft wide

Life Span:

long-lived perennial

Flower Color:

Fruit Color:

Phenology:

Deciduous. Blooms in spring. Acorns ripe the second fall. Red fall color. Life span - 100+ years.

Noted For:

Hurricane Wind Resistance, Fall Color, Interesting Foliage

Landscaping

Recommended Uses:

Specimen or shade tree.

Considerations:

Difficult to transplant once it has formed its tap root.

Light:

Full Sun, Part Sun

Moisture Tolerance:

Not wet but not extremely dry ---- to ---- Very long very dry periods

Salt Water Flooding Tolerance:

Unknown

Salt Spray/Salty Soil Tolerance:

Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray

Soil or Other Substrate:

Sand

Suitable to Grow In:

8A,8B,9A,9B

Ecology

Wildlife:

Caterpillars, Birds, Mammals

Larval host plant forHorace's duskywing ( Erynnis horatius ), red-banded hairstreak ( Calycopis cecrops ) and white-M hairstreak ( Parrhasius m-album ) butterflies)

Used by woodpeckers and wild turkey





Valued by squirrels and other mammals including white tailed deer





Used by birds for resting and nesting

Native Habitats:

Sandhill, scrub, scrubby sandhill. Increases in sandhill where long leaf pines were removed and where burns are restricted to winter.