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Fagaceae FAMILY Least Concern

Quercus laurifolia

Quercus laurifolia

Edibility
1/5
Medicinal
1/5

Safety & Hazards

All parts of the plant contain tannins. Whilst tannins are found in many foods, and have a range of medicinal uses. They are usually only present in low concentrations. In some foods made from oaks (particularly the seeds), the tannin content can be quite high unless the food is treated to reduce tannin content. Tannins are only of low toxicity and, because of their bitter taste and astringency, are unlikely to be eaten in large quantities. However, if they are taken in excess, they can cause stomach pains; constipation followed by bloody diarrhoea: excessive thirst; and excessive urination[1].

Cultivation Details

HabitSemi-deciduous Tree
GrowthFast

Quercus laurifolia is a very cold-hardy tree, tolerating temperatures down to around -20°c when dormant. It grows best in areas with hot summers. In areas with cooler summers, such as the maritime regions of the temperate zone, it often grows poorly, failing to properly ripen its wood and suffering frost damage over the winter[2, 3]. Succeeds in full sun and in partial shade[4]. Succeeds in a wide range of soils from sands to clays, preferring well-drained but tolerating occasionally inundated soils[4]. Prefers an acid soil but can tolerate slightly alkaline conditions[4]. A fast-growing tree but rather short-lived, often dying when 50 - 70 years old[4]. Trees can start producing moderate crops of acorns when around 15 years old[5]. The acorns take 2 growing seasons to ripen[5]. The smallest trunk injury or improper pruning cut can result in columns of decay inside the trunk which are 13 - 6 metres or more feet long[4]. Seeds take around 18 months to mature[6].

Propagation

Seed - it quickly loses viability if it is allowed to dry out. It can be stored moist and cool overwinter but is best sown as soon as it is ripe in an outdoor seed bed, though it must be protected from mice, squirrels etc. Small quantities of seed can be sown in deep pots in a cold frame. Plants produce a deep taproot and need to be planted out into their permanent positions as soon as possible, in fact seed sown in situ will produce the best trees[2]. Trees should not be left in a nursery bed for more than 2 growing seasons without being moved or they will transplant very badly. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Quercus+laurifolia>

Pollinators

Wind

References

  1. [1]Poisonous Plants of North Carolina — http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/poison.htm ↩︎An excellent concise but comprehensive guide to toxic plants that grow in N. Carolina. It lists even those plants that are of very low toxicity, including several well-known food plants such as carrots and potatoes.
  2. [2]Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. — Bean. W. · Murray · 1981 · ISBN - ↩︎A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.
  3. [3]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  4. [4]Southern Trees Fact Sheets — Gilman E.F. · University of Florida, IFAS Extension · http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/department_envhort-trees ↩︎A series of fact sheets on trees that can be grown in Florida. They can be downloaded from the Internet
  5. [5]KemperCentreForHomeGardeningPlantFinder — Missouri Botanical Garden · http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/ ↩︎Basic cultivation details, plant uses, habitat etc for several thousand species of plants, mainly from the temperate zone.
  6. [6]Flora of N. America — http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/fna/ ↩︎An on-line version of the flora with an excellent description of the plant including a brief mention of plant uses.
  7. [7]IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — http://www.iucnredlist.org/ ↩︎A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat.
  8. [8]Flora of Guatemala — Standley P.C. & J. A. Steyermark · 1946 - 1976 · http://www.archive.org/ ↩︎A superb reference, though somewhat dated. Gives lots of plant uses as well as information on plant habit and habitat. The entire flora (13 volumes) can now be downloaded from http://www.archive.org/
  9. [9]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  10. [10]Antibacterial and Antifungal Activities of Some Quercus Species Growing in Turkey — Didem Söhretoğlu; Melike Ekizoğlu; Ekrem Kiliç; M. Koray Sak · 2007 ↩︎
  11. [11]Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. — Riotte. L. · Garden Way, Vermont, USA. · 1978 · ISBN 0-88266-064-0 ↩︎Fairly good.
  12. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎