Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Quercus pagoda

Quercus virginiana

cherrybark oak, Texas oak

live oak, southern live oak
Habit Trees, deciduous, to 40 m. Bark nearly black with narrow and noticeably flaky ridges, often resembling that of wild black cherry, inner bark orange. Trees, sometimes shrubs, subevergreen, trees to 35 m, shrubs sometimes rhizomatous.
Bark

dark brown or black, scaly.
Twigs

yellowish brown, 2-3.5 mm diam., pubescent.

yellowish to light gray, 1-3 mm diam., minutely puberulent or stellate-pubescent, glabrate in 2d year.
Buds

reddish or dark brown, subglobose or ovate, 1-2 mm;

scale margins glabrous or puberulent.
Leaves

blade ovate to elliptic or obovate, 90-300 × 60-160 mm, base cuneate to rounded or truncate, margins with 5-11 lobes and 10-25 awns, lobes oblong, rarely falcate, terminal lobe rarely exceeding lateral lobes in length, apex acute;

surfaces abaxially pale, tomentose, adaxially glossy, glabrous, secondary veins raised on both surfaces.

blade obovate to oblanceolate, sometimes orbiculate or lance-ovate, ± planar, (10-)35-90(-150) × (15-)20-40(-85) mm, base cuneate to rounded, rarely truncate or cordate, margins minutely revolute or flat, entire or irregularly 1-3-toothed on each side, teeth mucronate, secondary veins obscure, 6-9(-12) on each side, apex obtuse-rounded or acute;

surfaces abaxially whitish or glaucous, densely covered with minute, appressed, fused-stellate hairs, light green and glabrate in shade leaves, adaxially dark or light green, glossy, glabrous or with minute, scattered, stellate hairs.
Acorns

biennial;

cup saucer-shaped to cup-shaped, 3-7 mm high × 10-18 mm wide, covering 1/3-1/2 nut, outer surface puberulent, inner surface pubescent, scale tips tightly appressed, acute;

nut subglobose, 9-15 × 8-16 mm, often striate, puberulent, scar diam. 5-9 mm.

1-3, on peduncle (3-)10-20 mm;

cup hemispheric or deeply goblet-shaped, 8-15 mm deep × 8-15 mm wide, base often constricted;

scales whitish or grayish, proximally thickened, keeled, tomentulose, tips reddish, acute-attenuate, glabrous or puberulent;

nut dark brown, barrel-shaped, ovoid, or obcylindric, 15-20(-25) × 8-15 mm, apex rounded or blunt, glabrous.
Cotyledons

connate.
Terminal

buds light reddish brown, ovoid, 4-9 mm, strongly 5-angled in cross section, puberulent throughout.

Quercus pagoda

Quercus virginiana
Phenology Flowering spring. Flowering late winter–early spring.
Habitat Poorly drained bottoms and mesic slopes Coastal plain, open evergreen woodlands, scrublands, and hummocks on loam, clay, and rarely on sand on immediate coast
Elevation 0-300 m (0-1000 ft) 0-200 m (0-700 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; IL; IN; KY; LA; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TN; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Quercus pagoda is often treated as a variety of Q. falcata; it is quite distinctive, however, both morphologically and ecologically (S. A. Ware 1967; R. J. Jensen 1989).

This species reportedly hybridizes with Q. falcata and Q. phellos (D. M. Hunt 1989).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Quercus virginiana is one of the commonest and best known species in the coastal region of the southeastern United States. In the past, it was widely used for structural pieces in the manufacture of wooden ships, and large groves were actually considered a strategic resource by the federal government. Historically oil pressed from the acorns was utilized. Like other members of the live oak group (Q. minima, Q. geminata, and Q. fusiformis), Q. virginiana seedlings form swollen hypocotyls that may develop into large, starchy, underground tubers. In the past, the tubers were gathered, sliced, and fried like potatoes for human consumption. The tendency for the tree members of this group to produce rhizomatous growth and clonal shrubs in juvenile stages, and in response to damage, fire, and poor soil conditions, has led to considerable confusion in delimiting the species. This is exacerbated by considerable plasticity in leaf form. When evaluating specimens an effort should be made to sample broadly within a population. The tuberous condition mentioned above suggests that live oaks have different phases in their life history that may persist depending on the environmental conditions. This is not uncommon in other woody plants that occur in seasonally dry, fire-prone habitats of the southeastern United States.

The Houma used Quercus virginiana medicinally for healing dysentery (D. E. Moerman 1986).

Putative hybrids between Quercus virginiana and Q. minima are known, but care should be taken to avoid assigning hybrid status to clonal phases of Q. virginiana solely on the basis of habit. Hybrids with Q. fusiformis and Q. geminata are discussed under those species. Occasional putative hybrids with Q. stellata are also found, and those tend to be semi-evergreen with shallowly lobed leaves.

Some named putative hybrids are: Q. ×burnetensis Little (= Q. macrocarpa × Q. virginiana); Q. ×comptonae Sargent (= Q. lyrata × Q. virginiana); and the artificially produced hybrid, Q. ×nessiana E. J. Palmer (= Q. bicolor × Q. virginiana).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Lobatae Fagaceae > Quercus > sect. Quercus
Sibling taxa
Q. acerifolia, Q. agrifolia, Q. ajoensis, Q. alba, Q. arizonica, Q. arkansana, Q. austrina, Q. berberidifolia, Q. bicolor, Q. boyntonii, Q. buckleyi, Q. carmenensis, Q. chapmanii, Q. chihuahuensis, Q. chrysolepis, Q. coccinea, Q. cornelius-mulleri, Q. depressipes, Q. douglasii, Q. dumosa, Q. durata, Q. ellipsoidalis, Q. emoryi, Q. engelmannii, Q. falcata, Q. fusiformis, Q. gambelii, Q. garryana, Q. geminata, Q. georgiana, Q. graciliformis, Q. gravesii, Q. grisea, Q. havardii, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. hinckleyi, Q. hypoleucoides, Q. ilicifolia, Q. imbricaria, Q. incana, Q. inopina, Q. intricata, Q. john-tuckeri, Q. kelloggii, Q. laceyi, Q. laevis, Q. laurifolia, Q. lobata, Q. lyrata, Q. macrocarpa, Q. margarettae, Q. marilandica, Q. michauxii, Q. minima, Q. mohriana, Q. montana, Q. muehlenbergii, Q. myrtifolia, Q. nigra, Q. oblongifolia, Q. oglethorpensis, Q. pacifica, Q. palmeri, Q. palustris, Q. phellos, Q. polymorpha, Q. prinoides, Q. pumila, Q. pungens, Q. robur, Q. robusta, Q. rubra, Q. rugosa, Q. sadleriana, Q. shumardii, Q. similis, Q. sinuata, Q. stellata, Q. tardifolia, Q. texana, Q. tomentella, Q. toumeyi, Q. turbinella, Q. vacciniifolia, Q. vaseyana, Q. velutina, Q. viminea, Q. virginiana, Q. wislizenii
Q. acerifolia, Q. agrifolia, Q. ajoensis, Q. alba, Q. arizonica, Q. arkansana, Q. austrina, Q. berberidifolia, Q. bicolor, Q. boyntonii, Q. buckleyi, Q. carmenensis, Q. chapmanii, Q. chihuahuensis, Q. chrysolepis, Q. coccinea, Q. cornelius-mulleri, Q. depressipes, Q. douglasii, Q. dumosa, Q. durata, Q. ellipsoidalis, Q. emoryi, Q. engelmannii, Q. falcata, Q. fusiformis, Q. gambelii, Q. garryana, Q. geminata, Q. georgiana, Q. graciliformis, Q. gravesii, Q. grisea, Q. havardii, Q. hemisphaerica, Q. hinckleyi, Q. hypoleucoides, Q. ilicifolia, Q. imbricaria, Q. incana, Q. inopina, Q. intricata, Q. john-tuckeri, Q. kelloggii, Q. laceyi, Q. laevis, Q. laurifolia, Q. lobata, Q. lyrata, Q. macrocarpa, Q. margarettae, Q. marilandica, Q. michauxii, Q. minima, Q. mohriana, Q. montana, Q. muehlenbergii, Q. myrtifolia, Q. nigra, Q. oblongifolia, Q. oglethorpensis, Q. pacifica, Q. pagoda, Q. palmeri, Q. palustris, Q. phellos, Q. polymorpha, Q. prinoides, Q. pumila, Q. pungens, Q. robur, Q. robusta, Q. rubra, Q. rugosa, Q. sadleriana, Q. shumardii, Q. similis, Q. sinuata, Q. stellata, Q. tardifolia, Q. texana, Q. tomentella, Q. toumeyi, Q. turbinella, Q. vacciniifolia, Q. vaseyana, Q. velutina, Q. viminea, Q. wislizenii
Synonyms Q. falcata var. leucophylla, Q. falcata var. pagodifolia, Q. leucophylla, Q. pagodifolia Q. virginiana var. eximea
Name authority Rafinesque: Alsogr. Amer., 23. (1838) Miller: Gard. Dict. ed. 8, Quercus no. 16. (1768)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers