Live oak

Southern live oak Quercus virginiana

Description

Any North American evergreen oak, such as Quercus virginiana (southern U.S. and Mexico) or Quercus agrifolia (California). The light brown wood of the live oak tree is strong and hard. Its wood was once highly valued by shipbuilders. Now it is mainly grown as a shade tree.

Synonyms and Related Terms

encino; Southern live oak (Quercus virginiana); Coast live oak (Quercus agrifolia)

Naval live oak Quercus virginiana

Resources and Citations

• Dictionary of Building Preservation, Ward Bucher, ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York City, 1996

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_oak (Accessed Oct. 8, 2005)