Quercus geminata, commonly called sand live oak, is an evergreen oak tree native to the coastal regions of the subtropical southeastern United States, along the Atlantic Ocean Coast from southern Florida northward to southeastern Virginia and along the Gulf Coast westward to southern Mississippi,[[1] "FloriData — Quercus geminata", Retrieved 2011-07-06] on seacoast Dune and on white sands in evergreen oak scrubs.[
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Taxonomy
Quercus geminata is placed in the southern live oaks section of the genus Oak (section Virentes).
Appearance
A small- to medium-sized tree, the sand live oak is scrubby and forms thickets. The bark is dark, thick, furrowed, and roughly ridged. The leaves are thick, leathery, and coarsely veined, with extremely revolute margins, giving them the appearance of inverted shallow bowls; their tops dark green, their bottoms dull gray and very tightly tomentose, and their petioles densely pubescent, they are simple and typically flat with bony-opaque margins, having a length of and a width of . The male flowers are green hanging . The acorns are small, 1–2.5 cm, oblong-ellipsoid or ovoid, and are commonly born in pairs on peduncles of varying lengths.
The Florida Native Plant Society describes the plant as "Extremely drought tolerant" and a long-lived perennial.
Description
In coastal Florida's evergreen oak Scrubland, the sand live oak is a ubiquitous and abundant species; the threatened Florida scrub-jay is found only in Florida scrub.[ "The University of Florida – School of Forest Resources & Conservation — Scrub", Retrieved 2011-07-08][[2] "An Ecological Overview Of Scrub Habitat And Florida Scrub-Jays In Brevard County", Retrieved 2011-07-08] , having characteristics of the sand live oak and the southern live oak ( Q. virginiana), grow further inland.
Hybrids
It is believed that these specimens are hybrids of Q. geminata and Q. virginiana.
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