Live Oak (Quercus virginiana)

 

Do our live oaks (Quercus virginiana) typically look this bare in late winter? Across campus and throughout Shreveport, Live Oaks turned brown and dropped their leaves shortly after the mid-February winter storm weather. Since the unusually frigid weather caused obvious changes to other native species, we are taking a closer look at the live oak. 

We tend to think of live oaks as evergreen. You can find an old blog post, with many nice pictures, in which this species is described as evergreen. However, the literature describes live oaks as deciduous, dropping leaves in late winter or early spring. We're left with a quandary. Perhaps the timing is coincidental and the cold, icy, snowy weather had nothing to do with the simultaneous browning of the live oaks. 

But the USDA fact sheet calls our attention to a concern; according to the USDA, the minimum temperature for Quercus virginiana is 7ºF. Our recorded low temperature for February 16th was 2ºF. Let's see what happens!