Quercus virginiana

live oak

Fagaceae

Plant Specifics

Form:

tree

Size:

40-80 ft tall by 40-100 ft wide

Life Span:

long-lived perennial

Flower Color:

Fruit Color:

Phenology:

Evergreen. Inconspicuous blooms in spring; wind pollinated. Acorns ripening the same year in fall. Life span 300+ years.

Noted For:

Hurricane Wind Resistance, Interesting Foliage

Landscaping

Recommended Uses:

Large specimen tree or shade tree.

Considerations:

Massive low hanging branches often droop to touch the ground--make sure you allow plenty of room for this tree. Can be somewhat messy especially if loaded with Spanish moss.

Light:

Full Sun, Part Sun, Shade

Moisture Tolerance:

Usually moist, occasional inundation ---- to ---- Very long very dry periods

Salt Water Flooding Tolerance:

Unknown

Salt Spray/Salty Soil Tolerance:

Moderate. Tolerant of salty wind and may get some salt spray.

Soil or Other Substrate:

Sand, Loam

Suitable to Grow In:

8A,8B,9A,9B,10A,10B,11

Ecology

Wildlife:

Caterpillars, Hummingbirds, Birds, Mammals

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





Possible larval host for Juvenal's duskywing ( Erynnis juvenalis ) and oak hairstreak ( Fixsenia favonius ) butterflies.

Acorns provide a good food source for many types of birds and mammals.





Good nesting habitat for birds and squirrels.  The acorns are low in tannins.





Hummingbirds are attracted to and eat live oak pollen

Native Habitats:

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.