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Characteristics
 Family-
Fagaceae--The Beech Family
- Origin
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Native NC
- Plant Description
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Evergreen tree
- Coastal Ecology
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Quercus hemisphaerica is the Laurel oak. Laurel oak is a very common, beautiful, large tree of the coastal plain growing to 80 feet in height. At one time it was included within the species Quercus laurifolia, which today is broken into two species, Q. hemisphaerica, the Laurel oak or Darlington oak and Q. laurifolia, the swamp laurel oak or diamondleaf oak. Laurel oak occurs along the southeastern coastal plain from southern Virginia to Florida and west along the Gulf Coast states. On the barrier islands it is the evergreen oak most frequently encountered , observed on the frontal dunes and back into the maritime forest in association with live oak; in the pine and deciduous forests, with red maple and sweetgum in the swamp forests, and with waxmyrtle and redbay in the bay forests. It is found most often on dry, sandy, well drained soils. The leaves of Laurel oak are elongate, evergreen, green on the undersurface, pliable and without thickened or rolled-under edges. Note that the acorns of Laurel oak are not stalked, and are round and "basketball-shaped."
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