# Sand Live Oak (Quercus geminata)

> A smaller, tougher cousin of live oak for deep, dry sand, evergreen and wind-firm, with acorns that often hang in pairs.

Also called sandhills live oak, Quercus virginiana var. geminata. Category: Rare & Uncommon Oaks. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/sand-live-oak/

![Sand live oak (Quercus geminata) a pair of green acorns among narrow, curled-under leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/plants/sand-live-oak-h1610-800.jpg)
*Photo: Bruce Kirchoff, CC BY 2.0, cropped · [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AQuercus_geminata_%2823843933510%29.jpg)*

## Facts

- Type: Small tree
- Mature height: 20 to 50 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 7 to 10
- Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, the coast and dry uplands
- Native range: 7 states, north to [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), south to [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL) and west to [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA) ([Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC) and [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC))
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Dry, Average
- Growth rate: Slow
- Flowers: March to May
- Fruit: Acorns, August to October
- First crop: 20 to 30 years
- Mature spread: 50 ft
- Traits: Evergreen, Drought tolerant, Wildlife value, Salt tolerant, Erosion control
- Sold as: Saplings, Acorns

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

## Availability

Saplings ship [bare-root](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/planting-bare-root-trees-on-arrival/index.html.md) or [in a pot](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/a-sapling-in-a-pot/index.html.md), [usually 12 to 18 inches tall](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/small-sapling-or-big-transplant/index.html.md), in the dormant season, and their height and age are stated with the price, once available. Live plants ship February to May and October to November. Not priced yet: leave an email on the web page for one email when it is priced, with a code for 10% off the plants in that order, not shipping or tax, or write to captain@bluewhaletrees.com.

## Notes

Sand live oak is the live oak of deep, dry sand on the southeastern Coastal Plain, in scrub, sandhills, dunes and pine flatwoods. It is smaller and slower than live oak, and its thick leaves have veins pressed deep into the upper side and edges curled under. Its name, geminata, means twins, for the acorns that often come in pairs. Where fires sweep the scrub it stays a low thicket, since most of its weight lies in its roots and it regrows from them. It can form colonies that help hold a bank or slope. Grow it as a small evergreen shade tree on hot, dry sand, or let it spread into a thicket where nothing else will grow.

## Size, growth and what to expect

Sand live oak grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. Expect a tree of 20 to 50 feet with a broad, spreading crown, though it stays a shrubby thicket where fires are frequent. Old trees can reach 95 feet, and the two largest known stand in Gainesville, Florida.

Small catkins open from March to May, later than those of live oak. The acorns ripen the same year, from August to October, in ones, twos and threes on stalks up to 4 inches long. Each is 5/8 to 1 inch long and dark brown, a third sunk in a scaly gray cup. Florida scrub-jays, wild turkeys, woodpeckers, squirrels and deer eat them, and the leaves feed hairstreak and duskywing caterpillars.

It grows wild on the Coastal Plain from North Carolina south through most of peninsular Florida and west along the Gulf to Louisiana. Look for it on deep sand in scrub, sandhills, coastal dunes, flatwoods and coastal hammocks, often under pines. NatureServe ranks it vulnerable in North Carolina, at the north end of its range.

## How to grow Sand Live Oak

Sand live oak wants full sun or light shade and deep, sharply drained sand, acid or neutral. Once rooted it stands long droughts and strong wind. It takes salty wind, but not direct salt spray or flooding with salt or brackish water. Its leaves and acorns are rich in tannin and can stain concrete, so keep it back from patios and drives. Plant it 25 feet from a wall and more than 50 feet from overhead wires, and set trees 20 feet apart.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them 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 sand back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. Sand live oak acorns sprout soon after they fall and need no winter chill, as live oak acorns do. 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 young oaks, so guard each sapling with a tube or cage for its first two years. Some plants stay shrubby and sucker into thickets, so pull the suckers if you want a single trunk.

The flowers are wind pollinated, and an acorn crop wants another oak nearby. Sand live oak belongs to the white oak group, so its acorns ripen in one season. It flowers later in spring than live oak, so the two seldom cross even where they grow together. Acorns come every year.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 3: Quercus geminata](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=233501037)
- [NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox: Quercus geminata](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/quercus-geminata/)
- [Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: Quercus geminata](https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=QUGE2)
- [Florida Native Plant Society Plant Database: Quercus geminata](https://www.fnps.org/plant/quercus-geminata)
- [UF/IFAS Extension, FOR 249: Quercus geminata, Sand Live Oak](https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FR311)
- [UF/IFAS Florida 4-H Forest Ecology: Sand Live Oak](https://florida4h.ifas.ufl.edu/florida-4-h-forest-ecology/forest-ecology-contest/contest-stations/forest-ecosystems/sand-pine-scrub/sand-live-oak/)
- [Trees and Shrubs Online, International Dendrology Society: Quercus geminata](https://www.treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/quercus/quercus-geminata/)
- [USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual (2008), Quercus chapter](https://www.fs.usda.gov/nsl/Wpsm/Quercus.pdf)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Quercus geminata](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.129700/Quercus_geminata)

## 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)
- [How fast every tree and shrub we grow gets tall: growth rate, A to Z](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/growth-rates/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)

## Related

- We grow 42 other oaks (Quercus): [all of them](https://bluewhaletrees.com/shop/index.html.md?q=quercus)
- Trees to plant it under: [Live Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/live-oak/index.html.md), [Southern Red Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/southern-red-oak/index.html.md) and [Mockernut Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/mockernut-hickory/index.html.md)
- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Sand Live Oak, add ?species=sand-live-oak with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address; for example, the verdict for zone 7, part sun and average soil as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=sand-live-oak&zone=7&sun=part&moisture=average
- [Companion species for Sand Live Oak](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=sand-live-oak): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Transplant planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=sand-live-oak): whether Sand Live Oak can be moved and what the move takes, the root ball, its weight, who can lift it and the months, as Markdown at that address (add caliper= or height=, month= 1 to 12 and soil= sandy, loam or clay)
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate for Sand Live Oak as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=sand-live-oak (add height=, years= and site= poor, average or good)
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Sand Live Oak is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan for it as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=sand-live-oak (add state= and zone= for your own frost dates, method=fridge for the refrigerator route)
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Sand Live Oak needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the verdict for 2 of them as Markdown is at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=sand-live-oak:2
- [Planting-window tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md): when to plant Sand Live Oak where you live, as a fall and a spring window from the local frost dates; the windows as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=sand-live-oak&state=MO&zone=6 with your own state and zone in place of those
- [Planting-distance tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md): how far Sand Live Oak goes from a house, a septic field, a walk, wires, a property line and the next tree; the distances as Markdown are at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=sand-live-oak&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Sand Live Oak flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species; its own row and the gaps of a planting with it as Markdown at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=sand-live-oak