Possibly 2000 years old…
The Goose Island Oak Photo by Nicki Hurd
The big Tree of Lamar is said to be a survivor of extreme weather, climatologists estimate this tree has endured forty to fifty hurricanes, floods, wildfires and droughts.
This charter member of the Oak Society of America is located on the Lamar Peninsula near Goose Island State Park. It is estimated to have been anchored here for between one and two thousand years, and it may be one of the oldest oak trees. Age is determined by radiocarbon dating, or counting or cross-referencing tree rings. The Live Oak (Quercus virginiana), is a species of Oak trees that grows from Texas to Florida, and up to Virginia. The gulf breeze limits the height of oak trees. The Big Tree is more than 45 feet tall and has a crown spread of 90 feet. It is big because of its girth not height, the circumference is over 35 feet.
The horizontal length of the branches (in botany limbs are called the ramus and the large branches are known as boughs) of oak trees is bewildering to me…the core strength the limbs must have. They look like they are defying gravity. Trees are much stronger in the vertical axis than they are in the horizontal, because the cells at the tree trunk are long, skinny and have a tremendous amount of beam strength, which allows the tree trunk to hold up numberous branches.
Classified as the Champion Live Oak in Texas, this beautiful Live Oak is showing its age. The boughs are supported and it has a lightning conductor. It has been treated for pest and disease. There is a fence surrounding it, allowing it some space, to keep us pests away…as it is almost impossible to resist the temptation to sit and lean against it and meditate on all that has gone on around this mighty oak, to touch and congratulate the Big Tree for persevering and trying to discover its secret. August 31, 2012