Short and Stout

Their trunks are typically short and stout, but their branches are long and robust, growing parallel to the ground or arching gently to the ground with an invitation to climb that’s hard to resist. Their bark is grey to reddish-brown and deeply furrowed like dried, cracked mud. Live oak wood is remarkably dense, and at 55 pounds per square foot, the heaviest of any tree in North America. In the nineteenth century it was highly prized by boat builders; the branches were perfect for the ribs and keels of sailing ships. But when the wooden ship industry slowed a century ago, the tree was no longer considered commercially practical.

Evergreen

Unlike other oaks, live oaks are evergreens. That’s how they got their name, appearing to be “alive” in the dead of winter when other trees are leafless. Live oak leaves are dark green, rounded at the end, shiny on top and leathery on the bottom. When they wither and die, they form shallow cups that trap moisture in the layer of leaf litter beneath the tree. The leaves are shed in the spring, rather than the fall, and replaced almost immediately, so the tree’s food supply is uninterrupted. Around this time, two-to-three-inch-long oak flowers called catkins appear, releasing clouds of yellow pollen and turning millions of sensitive noses into leaky faucets until the summer rains bring relief.

Habitat

In the wild, live oaks support a wide variety of organisms. Possums, raccoons and grey foxes shelter in their canopies. Smoky grey streamers of Spanish moss hang from their branches, and bromeliads, such as wild pine and quill leaf, decorate their trunks with spiky corsages. Resurrection ferns grow on them in long smears; their little fronds — called megaphylls — shrivel in dry weather then rehydrate when it rains, coating the branch tops with lush emerald mats. Live oak acorns are tasty and sweet, at least until they germinate; then they quickly turn bitter due to the presence of tannin. Acorn “mast” is rich in fat and protein and sustains squirrels, hogs, black bears and white-tailed deer. Native Americans pounded the acorns into flour. They also bound growing saplings into unexpected shapes to serve as landmarks that pointed the way for generations of travelers.