The genus quercus (Latin for Oak Tree) include more than 500 living species of Oak Trees. The genus quercus is native to the Northern Hemisphere, and includes deciduous and evergreen species. These species that have evergreen foliage are normally called Live Oaks. This term, live oak does not necessarily indicate the the different species with live oak in their name are closely related, just that they have evergreen foliage.

The fruit is a non-valved nut (usually containing one seed) called an acorn. The husk of the acorn in most oaks only forms a cup in which the nut sits. Other members of the family have fully enclosed nuts.

The southern live oak is an evergreen oak tree endemic to the Southeastern United States. Though many other species are loosely called live oak, it is the southern live oak that is particularly iconic of the Old South. Many very large and old specimens of live oak can be found today in the Deep South region of the United States.

A large number of common names are used for this tree, including Virginia live oak, bay live oak, scrub live oak, plateau oak, plateau live oak, escarpment live oak, and Roble in Spanish. It is also often just called "live oak" within its native area, but the full name "southern live oak" helps to distinguish it from other live oaks, a general term for any evergreen species of oak.

Georgia, in 1937, designated the southern live oak as the official tree of the state.

There are several common names are used for this tree, including Virginia live oak, bay live oak, scrub live oak, plateau oak, plateau live oak, escarpment live oak, and roble, (the Spanish word for oak). It is also often just called live oak within its native area, but the full name southern live oak helps to distinguish it from other live oaks, a general term for any evergreen species of oak.

Q. virginiana fusiformis (Escarpment live oak)

Q. virginiana geminata (Sand live oak)

Q. virginiana minima (Dwarf live oak)

Although live oaks retain their leaves nearly year-round, they are not true evergreens. Live oaks drop their leaves immediately before new leaves emerge in the spring. Occasionally, senescing (biological aging) leaves may turn yellow or contain brown spots in the winter, leading to the mistaken belief that the tree has oak wilt, whose symptoms typically occur in the summer. Defoliation of a live oak may occur sooner in marginal climates or in dry or cold winters.

The bark is dark, thick, and furrowed longitudinally. The leaves are stiff and leathery, with the tops shiny dark green and the bottoms pale gray and very tightly tomentose (epidermal outgrowths of various kinds), simple and typically flattish with bony-opaque margins, with a length of 3/4 to 6 inches Long (2–15 centimetres) and a width of 3/8 to 2 inches (1–5 centermeters), borne alternately.

The male flowers are green hanging catkins (a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, or spike with inconspicuus of no petals) with lengths of 3 to 4 inches (7.5–10 centermeters). The acorns are small, from 3/8 to 1 inch long, (1–2.5 centermeters), oblong in shape (ovoid or oblong-ellipsoid), shiny and tan-brown to nearly black, often black at the tips, and borne singly or in clusters.

Depending on the growing conditions available, live oaks vary from a shrub-size to large and spreading tree-size. A typical open-grown tree grows to 66 feet in height (20 meters), with a limb spread of up to about 90 feet, nearly 27 meters. Their lower limbs often sweep down towards the ground before curving up again. They can grow at severe angles. It has been said that native Americans would bend saplings over so that they would grow at extreme angles, to serve as trail markers.

The root of the southern live oak is a deep taproot that anchors it when young and eventually develops into an extensive and widespread root system. This, along with its low center of gravity and other factors, makes the southern live oak extremely resistant to strong sustained winds, such as those seen in hurricanes.

Along the coastal plain of the Gulf of Mexico and south Atlantic United States, live oak is found in both single and mixed species forests, dotting the savannas, and as occasional clumps in the grasslands along the lower coastal plain. Live oak grows in soils ranging from heavy textures (clay loams), to sands with layers of organic materials or fine particles. Live oak can be found dominating some maritime forests, especially where fire periodicity and duration are limited. Live oak is found on higher topographic sites as well as hammocks in marshes and swamps. In general, southern live oak hugs the coastline and is rarely found more than 300 feet (90 meters) above sea level.

Live oaks grow across a wide range of sites with many moisture regimes, which range from dry to moist. Live oak will survive well on both dry sites and in wet areas, effectively handling short duration flooding if water is moving and drainage is good. Good soil drainage is a key resource component for sustained live oak growth. The usual precipitation range is from 25 to 65 inches of rain annually ( 650–1,650 millimetres), preferably in spring and summer with the soil pH usually acidic, ranging between pH of 5.5 and 6.5.

The 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, and then continues south in a narrow band through North Carolina along the coast to the interior South Carolina coast, where its range begins to expand farther inland. The range of live oak continues to expand inland as it moves south, growing across southern Georgia and covering all of Florida south to the northernmost Florida Keys. Live oak grows along the Florida panhandle to Mobile Bay, then westward across the southernmost two tiers of counties in Mississippi. Live oak grows across the southern third of Louisiana, except for some barrier islands and scattered parts of the most southern parishes. The range of the live oak continues into Texas and narrows to hug the coast until just past Port Lavaca, Texas, where it expands inland through much of central Texas.

Outside of the US South, there are a few location where this species is found including most of central Texas, a small area in southwestern Oklahoma, the northernmost mountains in the Sierra Madre Oriental in Mexican states of Coahila, Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas.

A live oak on Tyler Avenue in Annapolis, Maryland or one on Cherrywood Lane in Bowie, Maryland is the northernmost known mature specimen, although a number of saplings can be found growing around nearby Towson.

Multiple healthy young examples can be found in the Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore.

Oak Alley Plantation , Vacherie, Louisiana (30.00428, -90.775933) 1839 CE, 186 years old

Name: The Big Tree in Rockport, Texas

Agency: Texas State Parks, Goose Island SP

Location Tree: 28.152524, -96.976654

Girth: 35.1 feet, Height: 45 feet; Crown: 90 feet.

Name: The San Bernard Oak know as the Official State Champion in Texas

Agency: San Bernard NWR, Brazoria County, Texas

Visitor Center: 28.9141129, -95.5781502

Location Tree: 28.919885315969776, -95.60108281970504

Girth: 32.2 feet, Height: 67 feet; Crown: 100 feet.

The Lover′s Oak is in Brunswick, Georgia.

Agency: Brunswick Old Town Historic District

Location Tree: 31.14236, -81.48655

Girth: 40.9 feet, Height: feet; Crown: feet.

McDonogh Oak in City Park, New Orleans, LA

Agency: New Orleans, Louisianna City Parks

City Park: 30.001667, -90.092778

Location Tree: 29.98398516, -90.0953014

Girth: 25+ feet, Height: feet; Crown: 155 feet.

Ancients: Chitimacha and Chahta Yakni (Choctaw) peoples.

Seven Sisters Oak in Mandeville, LA, largest southern live oak in Louisiana.

Agency: Private Property

(30.367222, -90.09875)

Girth: 39.6 feet, Height: 57+ feet; Crown: 153 feet. (2016)

Grandma′s Oak in Columbus, Texas

Agency: Private Property Walnut Street (Old US 90)

Location Tree: 29.7065727, -96.5513098

Girth: 28.1 feet, Height: 61 feet, Crown: 114

The Friendship Oak, Long Beach, Mississippi.

Agency: Gulf Park Campus, University of Southern Mississippi

Location Tree: 30.351769, -89.136094

Girth: 19.8 feet, Height: 60 feet Crown: 155 feet (2011)

The Airlie Oak in Wilmington, NC, largest extant oak in North Carolina.

Agency: Airlie Gardens

Location Tree: 34.2140812, -77.8294574

Girth: 21 feet, Height: 70 feet; Crown: 104 feet.

Angel Oak On Johns Island, South Carolina.

Agency: Angel Oak Park, City of Charleston, SC

Location Tree: 32.7170653, -80.0804252

Girth: 28 feet, Height: 66.5 feet; Crown: 187 feet.

The Baranoff Oak, Safety Harbor, Florida

Agency: Baranoff City Park

Location Tree: 27.9912639, -82.6889611

Girth: 20 feet, Height: feet; Crown: 160 feet.

Known as the oldest live oak in Pinellas County, FL.

The Duffee Oak, is the oldest landmark in Mobile Alabama.

Agency: private developer

Location Tree: 30.68608, -88.06202

Girth: 31 feet, Height: 48 feet; Crown Spread: 126 feet.

The Boyington Oak, in Mobile, Alabama,

Agency:

Location Tree:

Girth: feet, Height: feet; Crown: feet.

Known for the folklore surrounding its origin.

The Bland Oak, Sydney, Australia,

Agency: Oakdene Park, Fairfield City Council

Location Tree: -33.8797, 150.9617

Girth: feet, Height: 43 feet; Crown Spread: 98 feet.

One of the oldest trees in the city and largest oak the country.

The Century Tree, planted in 1891, in College Station, Texas,

Agency:

Location Tree: 30.61591141846318, -96.34139490407395

Girth: feet, Height: feet; Crown: feet.

It has been declared a Famous Tree of Texas by the Texas Forest Service.

It is a campus landmark on the campus of Texas A&M University

The Cellon Oak, Alachua, Florida.

Agency:

Location Tree:

Girth: 30 feet, Height: 85 feet; Crown: 160 feet.

The Big Oak in Thomasville, Georgia.

Agency: City of Thomasville, GA

Location Tree: 30.841114, -83.981721

Girth: 27.9 feet, Height: 72 feet; Crown Spread: 169 feet. (2019)

The Treaty Oak in Austin, Texas

Agency: Treaty Oak Park, Austin, Texzs

Tree: 30.2713, -97.7555

Girth: feet, Height: feet; Crown: feet.

Vandalized in 1989, but survived although major pruning was required.

The Treaty Oak in Jacksonville, Florida

Oldest living thing in the city.

Agency: Jessie Ball duPont Park, Jacksonville, FL

Location Tree: 30.317, -81.6581

Girth: 25 feet, Height: 70 feet; Crown: 145 feet.

Lanier's Oak in Brunswick, Georgia,

Named after poet Sidney Lanier.

Agency:

Location Tree: 31.155667409171095, -81.4791905776719

Girth: feet, Height: feet; Crown: feet.

The Evangeline Oak along the bank of Bayou Teche in St. Martinville, Louisiana

Agency: Evangeline Oak Park, Martinville, LA

Location Tree: 30.12167890543881, -91.82756876511904

Girth: 29.5 feet, Height: feet; Crown Spread: feet.

The Emancipation Oak, on the campus of Hampton University in Virginia,

(37.023163, -76.330374)

Agency:

Location Tree:

Girth: feet, Height: feet; Crown: 98 feet.

My morning alarm awakens me and I arise, dress in my winter blues, step outside and walk to the pavilion in the middle of the wagon circle for the mens room. The sun has just risen above the tree tops in the east and my shadow stretches westward across the inner circle of the loop. Also, inside the inner circle is an ancient Southern Live Oak tree that has large branches extending outward and swooping down to rest on the ground. The last time I saw a live oak this large, I believe, was when I was at Goose Island state park, yes, in December 2022 when I was there camping.

I grab my phone, walk towards the tree and take a couple of photos. As I become closer, I realize that this is not just once tree, but is three trees that were planted here and then apparently, the saplings were bent outward from each other. Here in this area of the park, these three trees have become an object for children to climb.