Occasionally, senescing leaves may turn yellow or contain brown spots in the winter, leading to the mistaken belief that the tree has oak wilt, whose symptoms typically occur in the summer.

The leaves are stiff and leathery, with the tops shiny dark green and the bottoms pale gray and very tightly tomentose, simple and typically flattish with bony-opaque margins, with a length of 2–15 centimetres (3⁄4–6 inches) and a width of 1–5 cm (3⁄8–2 in), borne alternately.

[citation needed] The southern live oak has a deep taproot that anchors it when young and eventually develops into an extensive and widespread root system.

This, along with its low center of gravity and other factors, makes the southern live oak extremely resistant to strong sustained winds, such as those seen in hurricanes.

Live oak grows along the Florida panhandle to Mobile Bay, then westward across the southernmost two tiers of counties in Mississippi.

[9] There is a misconception that the southern live oak reaches its northwestern limit in the granite massifs and canyons in Southwestern Oklahoma.

[citation needed] However, this actually belongs to the closely related and much more cold-hardy Escarpment Live Oak (Quercus fusiformis), a rare remnant from the last glaciation also found around Norman, Oklahoma.

Live oak grows in soils ranging from heavy textures (clay loams), to sands with layers of organic materials or fine particles.

Live oak will survive well on both dry sites and in wet areas, effectively handling short duration flooding if water is moving and drainage is good.

[15] One source states that the southern live oak responds "with vigorous growth to plentiful moisture on well-drained soil.

[citation needed] They can withstand occasional floods and hurricanes, and are resistant to salt spray and moderate soil salinity.

Cultivation is relatively simple, as southern live oak seedlings grow fast with ample soil moisture.

Among the animals for which live oak acorns are an important food source are the bobwhite quail, the threatened Florida scrub jay, the wood duck, yellow-bellied sapsucker, wild turkey, black bear, various species of squirrel, and the white-tailed deer.

Native Americans extracted a cooking oil from the acorns, used all parts of live oak for medicinal purposes, leaves for making rugs, and bark for dyes.