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Article: Live oak: the ultimate southerner.(In Profile; includes "Trees Where History Gathered", www.historictrees.org)(Column)
- Article from:
- American Forests
- Article date:
- September 22, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 American Forests. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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To think of live oaks is to envision the deep South. Over the years, the spreading branches of Quercus virginiana have symbolized southern culture in movies from Gone with the Wind to Forrest Gump.
A long-lived tree with a life measured in centuries, live oaks are native to the coastal South and can be seen growing in large yards, as specimen trees in parks, along streets, and overhanging the lanes of historic plantations. Georgia claims the live oak as its state tree.
The name derives from foliage that is evergreen through the winter months (except in its northernmost regions} when other deciduous trees stand bare. Given that it grows from the tidewaters ...