Photo: Bruce Kirchoff, CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Myrtle Oak

Quercus myrtifolia

Also called myrtle-leaf oak.

An evergreen oak of the southern coastal scrub, with small, glossy leaves the year round, that takes dry sand, salt wind and drought.

EvergreenRareDrought tolerantSalt tolerantWildlife valueWinter interestErosion control

Type: Small tree
Mature height: 15–40 ft
USDA zones: 7–10
Growth rate: Slow
Sun: Full, Part
Soil moisture: Dry
Grows wild in: Sandy barrens and the coast
Native range: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina See what is native in your state

Hardiness zones Find your zone by ZIP code

Myrtle oak is an evergreen member of the red oak group, a shrub or small tree that spreads by underground runners into thickets. Its name means myrtle-leaved, and the stiff, leathery leaves are rolled under at the edge. It is one of the three scrub oaks characteristic of the Florida scrub, and it is common there. It is scarce at the edges of its range, and NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in South Carolina. Thickets of it steady beach dunes and help them survive strong storms. Plant it at the back of a dry, sandy border, or in a coastal planting behind the dunes.

Size, growth and what to expect

Myrtle oak grows slowly, so our growth estimator gives it about a foot a year. Expect 15 to 20 feet or more in a garden, with a crown 8 to 10 feet wide. At its largest it reaches about 40 feet, though in the wild it is most often a shrub. A tree raised from seed bore its first acorns at 9 years.

It flowers from March to May, and the acorns take two seasons, ripening in August and September of the following year. The acorns are nearly round and up to half an inch long. They are an important food for wildlife.

It grows wild on the coastal plain from South Carolina through Florida to Mississippi. Its home is dunes, hammocks, sandhills, dry ridges and oak scrub. It is most abundant on the islands off Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, where it covers wide areas in low thickets.

How to grow Myrtle Oak

Myrtle oak wants full sun or light shade and a sandy soil that drains fast, on the acid side. Once rooted it rides out drought and salt wind, but waterlogged ground kills it. Set trees 10 feet apart for a thicket, and keep each one 15 feet from a wall and at least 15 feet from overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them in the cool months, from late fall to early spring, in a hole wider than the roots and deep enough for the taproot. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the sand back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Drop acorns in water before sowing, and discard any that float. Red oak acorns need a winter before they sprout. Sow them in fall under hardware cloth, as deep as the acorn is wide. For spring, hold them damp in the refrigerator for four to twelve weeks first. In a mild southern winter the chill may fall short, and fall-sown acorns then come up slowly and unevenly.

Water every week or two through the first summer, then only in a long drought. Deer browse young oaks, so guard each sapling with a tube or cage for its first three years. After a fire it sprouts again from the roots.

The flowers are wind pollinated, and an acorn crop wants another oak nearby. As a red oak it can catch oak wilt where that disease occurs, so prune only in winter, to avoid the beetles that spread it. In the wild it crosses with other red oaks, among them water, laurel and blackjack oaks.

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

Sources (9)