LIVE OAK (Quercua Virginiana, Mill.). 50 to 70 feet; 50 to 150 feet across. Spreading, round-topped, short-trunked tree, of numerous small, rigid, angular branches; trunk often lobed and buttressed. Bark brownish red, with shallow fis sures, and scaly ridges; limbs shading to pale gray; twigs hoary pubescent. Wood very heavy, hard, tough, durable, light brown; superior lumber. Leaves evergreen, leathery, obovate or elliptical, plain-margined, 2 to 5 inches long, dark green shining above, pale to silvery white beneath, and downy; shed by the oncoming of new foliage in spring. Flowers ruon
tecious, in 'April; staminate catkins clustered, hairy, showy; pistillate in spikes, long, few-flowered, red-tipped. Acorns clustered, brown, 1 inch long, pointed, in thin, scaly, stalked cup; nut a to a enclosed; kernel sweet. Dist.: Islands and sandy coast regions, Virginia to Florida, and Cuba; west to Mexico; occurs in Lower California and Mexico. Favorite shade and ornamental park tree of the South.