Tree · Fagaceae
Live oak
Quercus virginiana
Live oak is recorded as native to 9 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 218 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Live oak at a glance
- Native in
- 218 counties, across 9 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 8a PLANTS minimum temperature 7°F
- Mature height
- 50 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 8a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of 7°F; zone 8a winters bottom out at 10°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Live oak is recorded as native to 9 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 218 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 218 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 9 counties
- Florida 57 counties
- Georgia 25 counties
- Louisiana 58 counties
- Mississippi 9 counties
- North Carolina 12 counties
- South Carolina 21 counties
- Texas 21 counties
- Virginia 6 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Tree
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 50 ft
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Growth form
- Single Stem
- Shape
- Rounded
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Medium
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- Medium
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 70 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 4.5 to 7.3
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- None
- Salinity tolerance
- Low
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 40 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- 7°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 8a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 240
- Fire tolerance
- Low
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Early Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- Yes
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Fagaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- QUVI
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Quercus virginiana (PLANTS symbol QUVI).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources