WATER OAK; LAUREL OAK (Quercus laurtfolia, Michx.). 50 to 100 feet. Tall, graceful, broad-domed tree of many slender branches. Trunk 2 to 4 feet in diameter. Bark brown, scaly, becoming darker, roughened by irregular fissures at base of trunk. Branches reddish, smooth. Wood heavy, hard, strong, but making poor lumber; used for fuel. Leaves leathery, shin ing, dark green above, paler beneath; oblong-oval, pointed at base and apex, entire margins, often curved to sickle form, ribs and petiole yellow; length 3 to 4 inches. Acorns on short stalks,
if any; solitary, fuzzy, brown, striped with green, inch long, i enclosed in thin, red-brown, silky lined cup. Dist.: Swamp and stream borders; Dismal Swamp, Virginia, to Florida; west to Louisiana. Largest and most common in eastern Florida. Favorite street and yard tree in its range. Foliage near ever green, rivals live oak in beauty.