Solved: Laurel Oak

[Tom]

Yeah, I know it's out of order....but I'm from Fla.

What do you figure this is?


Solved by Jeff

[swampwhiteoak]

Willow oak?

(No way I could get two in a row right   )  

I got some other guesses if that ain't right.

[Tom]

Nope, not a willow oak.

"look what a fine mess you've got me in this time"

[swampwhiteoak]

Alright, second guess.

Rhododendron?

[Jeff]

Hardy har har

Must be "Laurel?"

[Tom]

How old did you say you were Jeff?  That's pretty good !!

How's this for an aside.

I went to Military school in Milledgeville, Georgia.  Across the street from the school was the old Baldwin Hotel. It was a big hotel for the size of the town and the lobby was huge with red carpet.  They had a Television (a unique feature in the 1950's) and we would go over there and watch it. Sometimes there would be 20 or so of us cadets sitting around on the floor and the people that owned the hotel put up with us and let us do it.  

I found out later that Oliver Hardy's grandmother owned the hotel years before and He, being from Georgia, practically lived there.  He would run up and down the stairs and through the lobby just like we did years later.  I guess the family got used to having kids around because they sure made us feel at home.

Of course it wasn't his Grandmother and he wasn't around........I'm not that old.
The old hotel is gone now, but I can still picture it.

Now let me get my books out and see if I can figure out what this bunch of leaves is.....looks kinda like dogwood.

[Gordon]

So the correct answer for this one is a Laural Oak? The leaves seem to be too pointy for that. On the Laural Oak that is.

Sure it's not a Bluejack or a Live oak

Gordon

[Tom]

Yep,

Laurel and water oak have the same wood and lots of times leaves that look similar.  The same texture.  Biggest difference is that Laurel oak has a much prettier and evenly formed leaf that forms  a point at the tip or at least an even sharp oval.  Water oak looks like it was trying to imitate Laurel Oak but got confused and forgot to make the end of the leaf.  It is bulbous and rarely meets evenly at the center vein.  One side will protrude further than the other.  Just to look at the tree from a distance it is difficult to tell them apart and once sawed you can't.  well maybe a lab could.

Live Oak has a much smaller leaf that has no delicate features.  It is leathery and many times the edges curl under.  The above two are Red oaks and Live oak is a white oak.  Live oaks bark is on the grayish side and furrowed much smaller than the water oak.

I don't think I have ever seen a Blue Jack Oak here.
We have what a lot of folks call Black Jack but the book says it is a northern tree and the black Jack in the south is a Turkey Oak.

Yep this is a Laurel Oak O.K.


I'll show you some Live Oak later.

[Tom]

Gordon,

Since you mentioned Blue Jack I have been doing some reading about it.  Probably the reason I am unfamiliar with it is because it is a highlands tree, grows on sandhills.  I think I can picture it in my mind but would have to travel out of my area to be sure.  I am going to make a point to do that now that my curiosity is up.  I also am going to be on the lookout for a trained Botonist in this area who better describe it and also answer some other questions about I have about Oaks in the area, specifically Live Oaks.  There are Live Oaks here that bare little resemblance to live oaks on the other side of town, etc.  I've heard some people try to justify this as male and female trees but I don't think there is such a thing in an Oak.  I have seen Live Oaks with leaves similar to the ones on the picture I displayed as a Laurel Oak.  When you see the trees in real life it becomes readily apparent as to which they are.  

There are swamp trees of the Red Oak group that differ considerably from pictures in the plant guides and trees of the white oak group that differ from one another depending on the ground they grow on.

Lots of learning to be had here.

I think what I am going to do, as well as ask for an ID, is to try to explain some of these trees, shrubs and flowers as I learn about them.  That could be fun too.

[Buzz-sawyer]

Tom
I found a little tree like that in front of Harolds old shop....the nuts are smaller and elongated, and dark....is that this??

[ellmoe]

Tom,

   You can find bluejack oaks here in Central Fla. in the sandhills, along with turkey oak and longleaf pine. I use to manage the Citrus tract of the Withlacoochee State forest and bluejacks are found there. The leaves are similar to laurel and when you look at a tree you can see the blueish cast to it. Otherwise, in size, shape, etc., it is similar to turkey (blackjack) oak. Recently, I was prowling thje woods near my folks home in Middleburg and noticed some bluejack in the sandhills there.

Mark

[SwampDonkey]

I looked at Tom's picture and it does remind me of the laurels (leaf shape) we have around fens and bogs here. You suppose them bog laurels will evolve into trees in a few thousand years? Never know, eh? 

[Buzz-sawyer]

What do the laurel oak nutz look like?