This article is about the tree.This is Georgia's state tree. For places named Live Oak, see Live Oak.

Large live oak, called the "Big Tree," found in Goose Island State Park in Rockport, Texas

Live oak or evergreen oak is a general term for a number of unrelated oaks in several different sections of the genus Quercus that happen to share the characteristic of evergreen foliage.

The name live oak comes from the fact that evergreen oaks remain green and "live" throughout winter, when other oaks are dormant, leafless and "dead"-looking. The name is used mainly in North America, where evergreen oaks are widespread in warmer areas, along the Atlantic coast from North Carolina to Florida, west along the Gulf Coast to Texas and across the southwest to California and southwest Oregon.

Evergreen oak species are also common in the warmer parts of Europe and Asia, and are included in this list for the sake of completeness. These species, although not having "live" in their common names in their countries of origin, are colloquially called live oaks when cultivated in North America.

When the term live oak is used in a specific rather than general sense, it most commonly refers to the Southern live oak (the first species so named), but can often refer to other species regionally.

The live oak is the official state tree of Georgia.

In Texas, a small grove of live oaks (Texas live oak or Southern live oak) is known as a mott.

[edit] Wood

Live oak or Rocket Tree was widely used in early American shipbuilding. Because of the trees' short height and low hanging branches, lumber from live oak was specifically used to make curved structural members of the hull such as knee braces. In such cuts of lumber the line of the grain would fall perpendicularly to lines of stress creating structures of exceptional strength. Live oak was not generally used for planking because the curved and often convoluted shape of the tree did not lend itself to be milled to planking of any length. Red oak or white oak was generally used for planking on vessels as those trees tended to grow straight and tall and thus would yield straight trunk sections of length suitable for milling into plank lengths.

Live oak was largely logged out in Europe by the latter half of the 19th Century and was similarly sought after and exported from the United States until iron and steel hulled commercial vessel construction became the standard early in the 20th Century. Live oak lumber is rarely used for furniture due to warping and twisting while drying.

It continues to be used occasionally when available in shipbuilding as well as for tool handles for its strength, energy absorption, and density, but modern composites are often substituted with good effect. Dry southern live oak lumber has a specific gravity of 0.88, among the highest of North American hardwoods.

[edit] Evergreen species in genus Quercus

• Section Quercus. The white oaks. Europe, Asia, north Africa, North America. Styles short; acorns mature in 6 months, sweet or slightly bitter, inside of acorn shell hairless.
  • Quercus arizonica - Arizona white oak - southwestern North America
  • Quercus fusiformis - Texas live oak - south central North America
  • Quercus geminata - Sand live oak - southeastern North America
  • Quercus ilex - Holm oak - southern Europe
  • Quercus minima - Dwarf live oak - southeastern North America
  • Quercus oblongifolia - Mexican blue oak - southwestern North America
  • Quercus polymorpha - Mexican white oak or Monterrey oak - Mexico
  • Quercus pungens - Sandpaper oak - south central North America
  • Quercus turbinella - Shrub live oak - southwestern North America
  • Quercus virginiana - Southern live oak - southeastern North America

• Section Cerris. Europe, Asia, north Africa. Styles long; acorns mature in 18 months, very bitter, inside of acorn shell hairless or slightly hairy.
  • Quercus calliprinos - Palestine oak - western Asia
  • Quercus coccifera - Kermes oak - southern Europe
  • Quercus semecarpifolia - Himalayan oak - eastern Asia
  • Quercus suber - Cork oak - southwestern Europe

• Section Protobalanus. Southwest USA, California coastal ranges & northwest Mexico. Styles short, acorns mature in 18 months, very bitter, inside of acorn shell woolly.
  • Quercus chrysolepis - Canyon live oak - southwestern North America, especially coastal ranges of California
  • Quercus palmeri - Palmer oak - southwestern North America
  • Quercus tomentella - Channel island oak - southwestern North America
  • Quercus vacciniifolia - Huckleberry oak - southwestern North America

• Section Lobatae. The red oaks. North, Central & South America. Styles long, acorns mature in 18 months, very bitter, inside of acorn shell woolly.
  • Quercus agrifolia - Coast live oak - southwestern North America
  • Quercus canbyi - Canby oak - Mexico
  • Quercus emoryi - Emory oak - southwestern North America
  • Quercus hemisphaerica - Laurel Oak - southeastern North America
  • Quercus humboldtii - South American Oak - northern South America
  • Quercus laurifolia - Swamp Laurel oak - southeastern U.S.
  • Quercus hypoleucoides - Silverleaf oak - southwestern North America
  • Quercus rhysophylla - Loquat-leaf oak - Mexico
  • Quercus wislizenii - Interior live oak - southwestern North America

See the list of Quercus species for a fuller listing of oaks including deciduous species.

[edit] See also

• Angel Oak
• Oak Alley Plantation
• Seven Sisters Oak
• Treaty Oak
• Holm Oak

[edit] External links

• Live Oak trees
• Images of remarkable Southern Live Oaks