Quercus laurifolia Michx.

Trees , tardily deciduous, to 40 m. Bark dark brown to black, ridges flat, furrows deep. Twigs red-brown, (1-)1.5-2.5 mm diam., glabrous. Terminal buds dark red-brown, ovoid to subconic, 2.5-6 mm, distinctly 5-angled in cross section, glabrous or with tuft of reddish hairs at apex. Leaves: petiole 1.5-5 mm, glabrous. Leaf blade rhombic or broadly elliptic to obovate, occasionally oblong or spatulate, 30-120 × 15-45 mm, thin, base attenuate or cuneate, rarely obtuse, margins entire with 1 apical awn, apex obtuse or rounded; surfaces abaxially glabrous, adaxially glabrous, veins raised. Acorns biennial; cup shallowly saucer-shaped to deeply bowl-shaped, 3.5-9 mm high × 11-17 mm wide, covering 1/4-1/2 nut, outer surface puberulent, inner surface pubescent at least 1/2 distance to rim, scale tips appressed, acute or attenuate; nut globose or ovoid, 8.5-16 × 10-16 mm, glabrate, scar diam. 6.5-11.5 mm.

Moist sites in sandy floodplains, bottoms and riverbanks, as well as forested wetlands between swamps and pinelands; at elevations up to 150 metres.

Can be grown by seedlings.