The American Turkey Oak is a member of the red oak group of oaks. It is native to the southeastern United States occurring on the coastal plain from Delaware south to central Florida and west to southeast Louisiana. It typically grows on poor, thin, dry, rocky or sandy soils where few other oaks can thrive. it commonly forms an understory tree with Longleaf Pine on sandy knolls in the U.S.. The deeply lobed leaves are attractive and resemble a turkey's foot in shape. The latin name laevis means smooth & describes the nearly hairless leaves.
The wood is hard, strong & light brown in color with a light red tint. It has been used for fuel, lumber & general construction in the past but today is mainly used for fuel wood & for barbequing.
The turkey oak is moderately fast to fast growing. As an adaptation to life in the dry sandy soils of the Southeast, the turkey oak has a remarkable ability to limit water loss during the hottest days of summer by changing the angle its leaves get exposed to sunlight so that only the thinnest edges of the leaf get the full force of the sun's drying rays. Come autumn the tree's leaves turn red-brown, looking very beautiful, and will often hang onfor several weeks into winter, becoming some of the last of the deciduous leaves to finally drop.

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