Quercus virginiana aka Southern Live Oak

Quercus virginiana, also known as the Southern Live Oak, is an iconic, medium-sized showy evergreen tree endemic to the Southeastern United States which may grow 40 to 80 feet tall. It has a broad crown, rarely grows over 50 feet tall with gnarled branches reaching out to 40 to 100 feet wide. Its bark is dark, thick and furrowed longitudinally with the leaves being stiff and leathery, with the tops shiny dark green and the bottoms pale gray and very tightly tomentose, simple and typically flattish with bony-opaque margins, with a length of .75 - 6 inches (2 – 15 cm) and a width of .4 - 2 inches (1 – 5 cm). Live oaks derive their name from the fact that they are evergreen and the fact that they send up many sprouts if lumbered or injured. It also produces a 3/4-inch acorn with a warty cap that covers about 1/3 of the nut. There are very large and old specimens of Live Oak found in the Deep South region of the United States.