“I saw a live oak tree in Louisiana growing / It stood alone with moss hanging from the branches.” — Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, 1860-1861

More than 150 years after Whitman wrote these lines, the southern live oak still epitomizes the American ideal of individual resilience—a standing, stoic figure. The live oak, one of the most bizarre trees in the country, is also one of the strongest. Indeed, he saved the lives of thousands of people who clung to his limbs during hurricanes. And today, scientists appreciate its extraordinary ability to absorb atmospheric carbon, which is a bonus in an era of climate change. As lonely as the living oak may seem, this species is hard at work to ensure our collective survival.

US native, Quercus virginiana known for its longevity—trees can live for over a thousand years—and its distinctive branches with their twisting, clumsy, whimsical branches. Southern live oaks get their name because, unlike oaks, which shed their leaves in winter, live oaks regrow leaves throughout the year, so their leaves are consistently lush, adorning the southeast from Virginia to the East Coast and south to Texas and Oklahoma. . , with low-hanging branches that seem to beckon climbers.

These robust trees typically grow inland from coastal dunes and are considered the cornerstone of the sea forests of the American South because they provide important support for a remarkably diverse array of species. Meanwhile, their famous deep and strong roots give live oaks an impressive hardiness.

Living oak fed and protected the inhabitants of the continent for many centuries. Since pre-Columbian America, indigenous peoples have ground the acorns of this tree into flour and have known that its strong roots can be counted on during natural disasters. In the late 1700s, the US Navy recognized the wood’s strength and its curved branches, ideal for ship hulls, and began using it to make extra strong ships: the world’s oldest ship still afloat, the USS. Constitution, launched in 1797, was nicknamed “Old Ironsides” during the War of 1812 after its hull, made partly of live oak, proved to be as good as the formidable British guns. The physician and poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. called this impregnable vessel the “sea eagle” – the floating representative of America itself.

The tree’s resilience has become even more important in the era of climate change, and the live oak continues to provide a life raft for those in the path of tropical storms. Salt-water-tolerant trees serve as protection against extreme weather, with deep roots that hold fast and downward-curving branches that provide shelter from strong winds. “While dunes and barrier islands are effective at mitigating storm surges and strong winds, the next round of protection is marine forest,” explains Paul Manos, a professor of biology at Duke University who has studied oak trees for most of his career. “Live oaks are not very tall, but very wide, and biomechanically they do well in strong winds because the wind passes right over them.” Just as importantly, the live oak is considered one of the world’s most efficient carbon sequestration trees due to its large canopy, dense timber, and impressive longevity, which is why Douglas Tullamy, an entomologist and wildlife ecologist at the University of Delaware, sees oaks as important part of long-term solutions to climate change.

The survival skills of live oaks will come to the fore as you drive through southwestern Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico. You won’t see many buildings at the end of the road; fences, businesses and homes have been destroyed by a series of storms over the past decade. But you will see big, beautiful oak trees that are centuries old. So many people have weathered the storms here for generations by holding on tight to the branches of the living oak tree. Historians have traced the practice to a native hunter in the 1800s who taught settlers how to tie themselves to these “thunder trees” during hurricanes. There are still locals who tell me that they survived the catastrophic storm of 1957 in this way.

One of the biggest threats to live oak is development. “I get calls every day,” says Colin Perilla Landry, chairman Living Oak Society, an organization of the Louisiana Federation of Garden Clubs. “Most of the time they call in a panic at the last second, because the utility is in their yard and is about to cut branches.” Landry usually sends an arborist to the site to see if the tree needs to be cut down, or to make sure the company cuts only what is needed.

The current president of the Live Oak Society is 1200 years old. One of the vice presidents has a trunk over ten feet in diameter. Landry is the only person in society; the rest is trees. One of the most famous is Angel Oak, a 400+ year old titan on Jones Island in South Carolina. The low-lying tourist attraction is protected from developers due to its majestic beauty. In the south, other anonymous live oaks are not protected, although anyone can register a given tree for conservation; thus the society knows to intervene if it is threatened.

Whitman, of course, found his arboreal muse in Louisiana, and while there are live oaks at the National Arboretum in Washington, “we don’t have anything like an angel oak,” says horticulturist Kevin Conrad. “To see the real deal, you need to head south. … It’s almost a spiritual experience to stand under these incredible trees.”

As a keystone, the southern live oak provides shelter to hundreds of forest creatures.

Rebecca Warby

Barred pygmy owl
Glaucidium brazilian

These tiny long-tailed owls are well known in parts of Mexico, Central and South America, but their range also extends to Arizona and southern Texas. In Texas, bird survival largely depends on live oak, says Fred Bryant, director of development for the Wildlife Research Institute. Caesar Kleberg in Kingsville, Texas. Owls often nest in hollows left by woodpeckers in trees.

barking tree frog

Hyla gratiosa

Named for its harsh call, the largest native tree frog in the US – typically 2 to 2.75 inches long – spends the warm months on the branches of live oak trees and hides under the roots in the winter. You can see how these frogs perform acrobatic stunts by jumping towards the canopy. Indeed, in 1961, the late Doris Cochran, a herpetologist at the Smithsonian Institution, observed that in captivity they could “easily play a toy trapeze” due to their strong suction on their fingers and toes.

White strand M

Parrasius m-album

This butterfly takes its name from the wings, which are blue above and silver below, with a zigzag white line resembling the letter “M” and, according to some observers, a false eye. In the American South, caterpillars lay their eggs on the leaves of southern live oaks; further north they are dependent on other oak species. However, when they become butterflies, they are difficult to spot because they live very high in the canopy.

Seminole bat

Lasiurus seminolus

This reddish-brown bat loves to nestle in the Spanish moss that grows on the living oak branches. These solitary eared creatures especially enjoy the shady Spanish moss mats on the southwestern sides of the oak trees, where they congregate and nap during the day. These areas are generally free of branches, giving the bats a free path to fly.