# Plateau Live Oak (Quercus fusiformis) > The common live oak of central Texas, green through the winter, with gnarled limbs that spread a great distance from a short trunk. Also called Texas live oak, escarpment live oak, plateau oak, Hill Country live oak, Quercus virginiana var. fusiformis. Category: Rare & Uncommon Oaks. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/plateau-live-oak/ ![Plateau live oak (Quercus fusiformis) old tree with gnarled limbs spreading low over rocky ground](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/plateau-live-oak-h1610-800.jpg) *Photo: Citrula, CC BY-SA 4.0 · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AA_large_Texas_Live_Oak.jpg)* ## Facts - Type: Small tree - Mature height: 20 to 40 ft - USDA hardiness zones: 5 to 10 - Grows wild in: Dry uplands and rocky ground - Native range: Oklahoma and Texas - Sun: Full, Part - Soil moisture: Dry, Average - Growth rate: Medium - Traits: Evergreen, Drought tolerant, Wildlife value - Sold as: Saplings, Acorns Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them. ## Availability Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed. ## Notes Plateau live oak grows wild in southern Oklahoma, in Texas between the Brazos and Pecos rivers, and in the mountains of northeastern Mexico. It is so close to southern live oak that some botanists count it a variety of that tree, but its acorns are spindle-shaped and it stands more drought and cold. Trees from southern Oklahoma are the hardiest, surviving cold as low as 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in Oklahoma. On the Edwards Plateau it forms copses of small trees joined by underground stems, known as shinneries. Plant it as an evergreen shade tree where southern live oak is too tender or the soil too alkaline. ## Size, growth and what to expect Live oaks grow fast when well watered on good soil, but this one grows wild on dry, rocky ground. Our growth estimator gives it the medium rate, about a foot and a half a year. Expect 20 to 40 feet. It flowers from March to May, and as in every white oak the acorns ripen the same year, in September and October. They are narrow and dark brown with lighter stripes, five eighths of an inch to an inch long. Live oaks bear a crop every year, often in great abundance. Birds and mammals eat the acorns, and hairstreak and Horace's duskywing caterpillars eat the leaves. It grows wild on savannas, rocky hills and uplands of limestone or limy loam. The old leaves hang on until late February or March and fall as the new ones open, so it looks evergreen. The largest known grows in Real County, Texas. ## How to grow Plateau Live Oak Plateau live oak wants full sun or part shade and a well-drained soil, dry to average in moisture. It grows in rocky, sandy, clay or loam soils, usually limy, even caliche. Once rooted it tolerates drought well. Set trees 30 feet apart, and keep each one 20 feet from a wall and 15 feet or more 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 no deeper. Set the root flare at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Plateau live oak acorns sprout soon after they fall and need no winter chill. Sow them on arrival, an inch deep, under hardware cloth. Water every week or two through the first summer, then only in a long drought. Deer browse the young sprouts, so guard each sapling with a tube or cage for its first three years. The young bark is thin and easily killed by fire, so keep flames and string trimmers away from the trunk. The flowers are wind pollinated, and an acorn crop wants another oak nearby. Oak wilt is a serious threat to this tree, above all when drought has stressed it. Live oaks grow from root sprouts into vast, joined root systems, so the fungus passes between neighboring trees, on average 75 feet a year. Prune only in the dormant season, never from February through June, and paint each cut at once. Do not bring in firewood from oaks killed by wilt, since the fungus lives on in dead wood for up to a year. ## Sources - [Flora of North America, vol. 3: Quercus fusiformis](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233501031) - [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Quercus fusiformis](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=QUFU) - [USDA Forest Service, Field Guide to Native Oak Species of Eastern North America, FHTET-03-01, Stein, Binion and Acciavatti 2003](https://rngr.net/publications/field-guide-to-native-oak-species-of-eastern-north-america) - [Trees and Shrubs Online, International Dendrology Society: Quercus fusiformis](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/quercus/quercus-fusiformis/) - [USDA Forest Service, Silvics of North America: Live Oak, Quercus virginiana](https://research.fs.usda.gov/silvics/live-oak) - [USDA Fire Effects Information System: Quercus virginiana, southern live oak, Carey 1992](https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/quevir/all.html) - [Texas A&M Forest Service: Texas Oak Wilt](https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/trees/tree-health/diseases/texas-oak-wilt/) - [Texas A&M Forest Service: Pruning Mature Trees](https://tfsweb.tamu.edu/trees/tree-care/pruning/pruning-mature-trees/) - [Texas A&M Forest Service, Texas Tree Selector: Live Oak (Encino), Quercus virginiana](https://texastreeplanting.tamu.edu/Display_Onetree.aspx?tid=88) - [NatureServe Explorer: Quercus fusiformis](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.147877/Quercus_fusiformis) - [Oklahoma Natural Heritage Inventory, Oklahoma Biodiversity Information System tracking list](https://obis.ou.edu/tracking-list) - [The Morton Arboretum and Botanic Gardens Conservation International, The Red List of Oaks 2020, Carrero and others](https://www.bgci.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Oaks2020HR.pdf) - [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Quercus chapter, Bonner](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Quercus.pdf) - [Oaks of the World, Jean-Louis Hélardot: Quercus fusiformis](http://oaks.of.the.world.free.fr/quercus_fusiformis.htm) - [USDA PLANTS: Quercus fusiformis, QUFU](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/QUFU) ## Read before planting - [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md) - [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md) - [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md) - [Red oaks and white oaks, and where each belongs](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/red-oaks-and-white-oaks/index.html.md) - [When oaks leaf out, and why two of them never agree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/when-oaks-leaf-out/index.html.md) - [Marcescence: why young beeches and oaks keep their dead leaves all winter](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/marcescence/index.html.md) ## Related - [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Plateau Live Oak, add ?species=plateau-live-oak with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=plateau-live-oak&zone=5&sun=part&moisture=average. - [Companion species for Plateau Live Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=plateau-live-oak): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard. - [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=plateau-live-oak - [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Plateau Live Oak is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=plateau-live-oak - [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Plateau Live Oak needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=plateau-live-oak:2 - [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Plateau Live Oak flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.