- Title
- Our State
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-
- Date
- April 2010
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-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
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Our State
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Live Oak
Beautiful and powerful, these monsters of the maritime stand
as iconic symbols of die South.
WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY KEVIN ADAMS
’ll Jfoot trees spend their lives reaching — year
iwiio year, inch by inch — toward the 'lev. The live
oak, though, focuses i(s energy on growing out, not up.
Fifty, imybc 60 feet is about as tall as one will get. But
ii can bulge to twice that in width, with a w eb of mights1
brandies creating a tree body that is a classic image of
the South.
My favorite live oak grows in the maritime forest in
Shackleford Banks on Cape Lookout National Seashore.
It’s an enormous sped men. Its huge sprawling branches
arc bigger than die trunks on most of the other trees in
the forest. They are chiseled amts, powerful and growing
and angling, extending to the ground in some places, then
popping bad up. A country bay and a photographer, I
still like to climb trees as much as I like to shoot pictures
of than. Climbing this particular monster is simple I just
walk up the limbs.
That’s what I do w ith a special tree. My wife
Patricia, when she finds one that really strikes her,
tears up and gives it a hug. IVe all have our ways of
expressing admiration. I launtingly lieautiful, strong as
steel, and brimming with history, live oaks deserve that
kind of appreciation.
Coastal muscle
Lise oak — Qurraa t ivrgznMiM to a imtanist — grows
naturally in the coastal plains from southeastern Virginia
to Texas. It sheds its leaves once a year and only alter new
leases base formed, hence it is always “Inc." The tough
leathery leasts make the nee extremely resistant to salt
spray, and tin roots can withstand periodic saturation
in salt w ater caused by Morin suiges or unusually high
tides. These characteristics allow the tree tn occupy the
dominant position in coastal maritime forests and makes
it home for other animals and plants looking to survive
in the inhospitable coastal environment. "The tree’s large
protective canopy provides she her for numerous species of
birds, mammals, rcjxiles, and amphibians. Birds, I war, deer,
A sandy road covered with live oaks (opposite) provides the perfect welcome to the Orton Plantation near Wilmington.
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