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Quercus hemisphaerica

Quercus hemisphaerica W. Bartram ex Willd.

Coast Laurel Oak, Darlington Oak, Laurel Oak

Fagaceae (Beech Family)

Synonym(s):

USDA Symbol: QUHE2

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

A pyramidal-rounded oak to 120 ft. with Laurel oak is a short-lived, pyramidal-rounded, evergreen, medium to large tree that can grow to heights of 100 feet (30.5 m). BARK: dark brown with deep furrows producing flat ridges. Bark is smooth on branches and young trunks, low-ridged on old trunks. TWIGS and BUDS: smooth, brown to dark red twigs; reddish to purplish-brown ovoid buds, scale margins smooth or ciliated. Leaves shiny, leathery, dark-green, falling about the time new ones appear in spring. Leaves short smooth petiole up to 1⁄4 inch (6 mm) in length; leaf blade narrow ovate or elliptical, 1 1⁄8 - 4 3⁄4 inches (29 - 121 mm) long, 3⁄8 - 1 1⁄2 inches (10 - 38 mm) wide, leathery, base obtuse or rounded, margin entire or with shallow lobes near apex. Both surfaces are smooth, or rarely with minute axillary tufts or tomentum beneath.

Laurel oak is fast growing and matures in about 50 years. Used for firewood and as an urban shade tree. The largest known laurel oak grows near Wrens, Jefferson County, Georgia.