The Southern Live Oak
Story by Jane Iwan
T
hose of us who live on or visit Kiawah are certainly familiar
with the beautiful southern live oak and our magnificent local
example, the Angel Oak. The first time I saw that famous tree,
I was amazed at the energy I sensed around it. I walked over
to it and held my hand against the trunk for a while—feeling an amazing
sense of peace.
Quercus virginiana, commonly known as the southern live oak, is an
evergreen oak tree native to the southeastern United States. Live oaks are
considered evergreens because they retain their leaves year-round but, in fact,
they are not true evergreens. Live oaks drop their leaves before new leaves
emerge in the spring.
Beginning with a narrow band of growth along the southeastern coast of
Virginia, the southern live oak continues to grow along the North Carolina
and South Carolina coasts. Its range extends farther inland as it moves south,
covering southern Georgia and all of Florida to the northernmost Florida
Keys. From the Florida panhandle, live oaks continue to thrive along the Gulf
Coast. They cover the southern third of Louisiana and extend into much of
southeastern Texas.
The Seven Sisters Oak in Mandeville, Louisiana, estimated to be over 1500
years old, is the largest certified southern live oak. The circumference of its
trunk measures 38 feet, stands at 68 feet in height and has a crown spread
of 139 feet. It survived a near-direct hit from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Contrast this with the Angel Oak, which is estimated to be 400-500 years old.
It stands at 66 feet and has a trunk measurement of 28 feet in circumference. It
was severely damaged during Hurricane Hugo in 1989 but has since recovered.
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate -
Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben reveals the value of
old-growth forests. Trained as a forester in his native Germany, Wohlleben
worked as a state forester in the Eifel municipal forest near Cologne. His
initial concern with trees lay in their market value. But when he started
giving tours through the woods, he developed a greater appreciation of trees.
Around the same time, Wohlleben became involved with Aachen University’s
research efforts in the same forest. Much of his research concentrated on oak
and beech trees, which had evolved to grow in forests rather than meadows.
The trees in plantation forests are spaced out artificially so they will get
more strength and grow faster. This disconnects trees from their network
and limits their resilience mechanisms. Through his research, Wohlleben
learned that trees in forests have interconnected roots through which they
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