Southern Live Oak
Quercus virginiana

Family: Fagaceae

OTHER NAMES
Coastal live oak, Virginia live oak, live oak,
Spanish: encino

CHARACTERISTICS
This iconic tree of the southern states is evergreen and in the low desert is usually seen as a small tree 25-40’ tall. Plants in its more native range get to be 60+ tall and even wider, up to 80’ wide. But not here. This tree does surprisingly well here in the low desert, and because of its upright nature, is more appropriate in commercial plantings where a single-trunked, upright-growing tree is needed. Inconspicuous flowers in spring turning into acorns afterward.

LANDSCAPE USE
Street tree. Medium sized shade tree.

Photo by jhaskintwu, iNaturalist
Quercus virginiana on Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center

ECOLOGY
Flowers in spring with inconspicuous, wind-pollinated flowers. Acorns ripen in fall. Oaks are wildlife keystone species hosting a mind-boggling number of insects. This brings in a vast array of substrate-insectivorous birds (birds that spend their time on these trees eating the insects). The acorns are important food for many birds and mammals (and some species eaten by people). The trees also provide important habitat for many birds and mammals. Almost all the oaks host a multitude of moths and butterflies including the following species:

Mexican-M Hairstreak (Parrhasius moctezuma)

Arizona Sister (Adelpha eulalia)

Short-tailed Skipper (Zestusa dorus)

Arizona Dull Firetip (Apyrrothrix araxes ssp. arizonae)

Burgess’s Sleepy Duskywing (Erynnis brizo ssp. burgessi)

Clitus Duskywing (Erynnis juvenalis ssp. clitus)

Meridian duskywing (Erynnis meridianus ssp. meridianus)

Scudder's Duskywing (Erynnis scudderi)

Mournful Duskywing (Erynnis tristis)

Oaks also host a diversity of insects that cause growths called “galls”. Galls are protective nests for the larvae of various insects (mostly tiny stingless wasps) to develop protected from pests. The have a diversity of shapes from giant ball-like growths, to small growths, on leaves or young stems. These galls do not harm healthy trees. Emory oaks that grow in riparian zones and get really tall are a favorite nesting site for owls and other raptors.

Oaks attract numerous other insects which, in turn, attracts canopy-gleaning birds.

ETHNOBOTANY
Live oak wood is hard, heavy, and difficult to work with, but very strong. In the days of wooden ships, live oaks were the preferred source of the framework timbers of the ship, using the natural trunk and branch angles for their strength. The acorns aren’t known as an important food but with much leaching they could be made edible. The roots of seedlings sometimes form starchy, edible tubers. People in past centuries harvested and fried these tubers for human consumption much as one might use a potato.

NATURAL DISTRIBUTION
Live oak can be found in the wild growing and reproducing on the lower coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico and lower East Coast of the United States. Its native range begins in southeast Virginia west to Texas.

TAXONOMY AND NAME
This plant is in the family Fagaceae, the beech family. There are 627 accepted species in the genus Quercus widely distributed in the northern hemisphere.
The genus "Quercus" is from Latin, meaning "oak". The species name, virginiana, references the state of Virginia, where this tree can be found.