Texas live oak (Quercus fusiformis) is typically found in Texas on dry sites, unlike Southern live oak (Quercus virginiana), which prefers wetter conditions. Texas live oaks are considered by many to hardiest evergreen oak, able to withstand very cold winters with minimal leaf burn.
- Alternate Common Name: Eescarpment live oak, plateau live oak
- Average Height: Texas live oaks grow to an average height of about 30 feet.
- Average Width: "Average" width is 3 feet, but many older Texas live oaks can become quite sprawling.
- Leaf Description: Leaves are alternate, oblong or elliptical, unlobed, often with a tooth at the apex, occasionally with a few teeth on the margins. Leaf margins are usually slightly rolled under, tapering to the leaf base, 4-10 cm (1.6 in. -4 in.) long, 1-5 cm (0.4 in. -2 in.) wide, dark shiny green above, grayish and densely hairy below. Leaves remain on the tree through the winter and fall in the spring.
- Bark Description: Quercus fusiformis bark is dark brown and rough, often with scaly ridges.
- Twig Description: Twigs are slender, gray-hairy, ending in a cluster of small glabrous brown buds.
- Flowering: Yellowish flowers.
- Needle or Broadleaf: Broadleafed