NameThatPlant.net: Quercus hemisphaerica

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Rosids: Fabids: Fagales
Genus: Quercus Subgenus: Quercus Section: Lobatae (red oaks)

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Quercus hemisphaerica FAMILY Fagaceae Go to FSUS key

Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.

You may also want to check Trees, Shrubs, and Woody Vines of North Carolina

Read Edible Wild Plants: Oak from Lytton Musselman and the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.

Learn more from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina website.

INCLUDING PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus hemisphaerica var. hemisphaerica FAMILY Fagaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Quercus hemisphaerica

INCLUDING PLANTS National Database
Quercus hemisphaerica var. maritima

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-031?:
Quercus laurifolia FAMILY Fagaceae

INCLUDING (MISAPPLIED) Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus laurifolia

COMMON NAME:
Darlington Oak, Sand Laurel Oak

To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Quercus hemisphaerica, Darlington Oak, Sand Laurel Oak

JK Marlow jkm0407x_04

July Abbeville County SC

Erskine College

This is the semi-evergreen laurel oak planted widely as a street tree in southern cities, per Weakley's Flora (2022).

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Quercus hemisphaerica FAMILY Fagaceae

INCLUDING PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Quercus hemisphaerica var. hemisphaerica FAMILY Fagaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America
Quercus hemisphaerica

INCLUDING PLANTS National Database
Quercus hemisphaerica var. maritima

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 055-03-031?:
Quercus laurifolia FAMILY Fagaceae

INCLUDING (MISAPPLIED) Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Quercus laurifolia

2081

Tree
Perennial
Monoecious

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Common in Coastal Plain (rare in Piedmont)

Habitat: Longleaf pine sandhills, dry hammocks, and other dry, sandy soils, a component of maritime forests with Q. virginiana, and widely planted as a street tree in most parts of our region, per Weakley's Flora

map
Click here to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)

LEAVES:
Semi-evergreen
Simple
Alternate, 5-ranked

FLOWER:
Spring
Unisexual
Staminate calyx 2-8 lobed, pistillate calyx 6-lobed
Petals absent
3-12 stamens in staminate flowers

Staminate flowers in clustered drooping catkins

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Acorn

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!