Pin oak
- There is also the community of Pin Oak, West Virginia, USA.
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The Pin oak or Swamp Spanish oak (Quercus palustris) is an oak in the red oak section Quercus sect. Lobatae. It is native to eastern North America, mainly in the eastern United States from Connecticut west to eastern Kansas, and south to Georgia across to eastern Oklahoma; it is also native in the extreme south of Ontario, Canada.
It is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 25-30 m tall, with a trunk up to 1 m diameter. The crown is broad conic when young, with numerous small branches radiating out from a central leader. When older, some upper branches become quite large and the central leader is lost, while the lower branches gradually droop downwards.
The leaves are 5-16 cm long and 5-12 cm broad, lobed, with five or seven lobes, and deep sinuses between the lobes. Each lobe has 5-7 bristle-tipped teeth. The leaf is mostly hairless, except for a very characteristic tuft of pale orange-brown down on the lower surface where each lobe vein joins the central vein. The acorns, borne in a shallow cup, are hemispherical, 10-16 mm long and 9-15 mm broad, green maturing pale brown about 18 months after pollination; the kernel is very bitter.
It is not a long-lived tree, usually living only 90 to 120 years. It is naturally a wetland tree, and develops a shallow, fibrous root system, unlike many oaks, which have a strong, deep taproot when young. It is confined to acidic soils, and does not tolerate limestone, and grows at low altitudes from sea level up to 350 m. The specific name palustris means "of swamps".
A feature of Pin oak (shared by a few other oak species, and also some beeches and hornbeams) is the retention of leaves through the winter on juvenile tissue. Young trees under 6 m (20 feet) will often be covered with leaves year-round, though the leaves die in the fall, remaining attached to the shoots until the new leaves appear in the spring. As with many other oak species, dead Pin oak branches will stay on the tree for many years.
Uses
The bark was used by some Native American tribes to make a drink for treatment of intestinal pain.
Pin oak is one of the most popular ornamental trees in the United States. The fibrous root system makes it easy to transplant, and thereby cheap to propagate, compared to most other oaks. However, because the tree is adapted for wet, acid soils, it may suffer a condition called iron chlorosis, in which the foliage yellows, when planted in drier, alkaline, and iron-poor soils. The drooping lower branches can also be a problem, interfering with access for traffic and pedestrians.
The wood is generally marketed as red oak, but is of significantly inferior quality, being somewhat weaker, often with many small knots.
The name "pin oak" is possibly due to the many small, slender twigs, but may also be from the historical use of the hard wood for pins in wooden building construction (Harlow 1942).
References and external links
- Flora of North America: Quercus palustris
- [http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/species/frame/qupa2.htm Quercus palustris images at bioimages.
vanderbilt.edu]
- Harlow, W. M. (1942). Trees of the Eastern and Central United States and Canada.
Pin Oak crown showing radial symmetry
Pin oak form, with ascending upper branches and drooping lower branches
Detail of mature bark
Section through trunk, showing knots
