An open-grown live oak is a massive, picturesque, wide-spreading tree with magnificent horizontal and arching branches that form a broad, rounded canopy. A squat, tapering trunk (larger in diameter than that of any other oak) supports the huge, irregular limbs which often rest their elbows on the ground.
Dark-green, waxy, unlobed leaves fall just as new leaves emerge in the spring, making the tree appear evergreen, though the coordinated leaf loss means its not actually a true evergreen.
The species tolerates more shade in summer than most oaks because the evergreen leaves can function through most of the winter. Fairly drought tolerant once established. It grows rapidly when young and may live to be centuries old. Adapts to almost any soil. Live Oaks can be used as street trees. Tolerant of salt spray.
The live oak provides one of the most indelible images of the Old South. The huge branches of a live oak festooned with Spanish moss and spreading horizontally over grassy lawns is iconic. The tree has long been a favorite not only for its beauty and shade but also for its strong and dense wood.
This is the familiar Spanish moss-covered oak of plantations in southeastern North America. Its massive limbs and persistent, glossy foliage have sustained its popularity as a residential shade tree to the present day. It is rarely found inland except in cultivation, where it becomes semi-deciduous and slower growing than those that receive the moisture-laden winds of the coast.