20 Pin Oak
Image of the Tree You are Viewing
Basic Information about this tree
Scientific Name: Quercus ellipsoidalis
Common Names: Northern Pin Oak (leaves have pins at ends of lobes)
Native
Deciduous
Condition and age guess of the tree you are viewing:
Bark description: Bark on the trunk of mature trees is shallowly ridged and becomes smooth gray with few isolated ridges stretching along the length of upper branches as on saplings.
Leaf Description: leaves have pins at the end of every point. Leaves are deeply lobed, relatively thin, glossy on the top, and hairless. The fall foliage is orange, or bronze to red.
Branch Structure: Like the leaves, buds and twigs are hairless and buds sharp. Pin oak is one of the faster-growing red oaks. The crown is pyramidal when young and becomes more rounded and oval with age. The branching pattern is unique with the lowermost branches being angled sharply downward, the middle branches horizontal, and the upper branches ascending. Young trees and lower branches of older trees hold leaves throughout winter.
Typical height and width at maturity: 50 to 70 feet with a trunk about 3 feet in diameter.
Typical longevity: 120 years
Soil, water, sunlight preferences: Pin oak prefers medium to wet, loamy, acidic soils and full sun. It can tolerate poorly
drained soils and some flooding, but it is adaptable to drier and urban conditions. It is shallow-rooted and easily transplanted.
Growth habit of roots:
Flower/Seed Details: Monoecious. Long pendulous chains of yellow to greenish-yellow male flowers appear soon after new leaves unfold in spring
Typical Pollination Mechanism: Insect pollinated
Fruits: Acorns are fairly small with a shallow saucer-shaped cap, compare saucer and bowl-shaped acorn caps.
- GPS Coordinates: 45.00317N, 92.90342W
Mature Tree in Winter/ Summer
Leaves in Summer / Fall
Flowers - Female & Male -separate Trees
Acorns Unripe / Ripe
Oak acorns are distinctive of the species Northern Pin Oaks have a bitter acorn that takes two years to mature; length 1/2 to 1 inches; reddish-brown, about half enclosed in its cup.
Bark of Mature Tree / root system sketch
Uses in Traditional and Modern Eras
Value for wildlife: small acorns offer good wildlife food
Utility for Humans: excellent firewood. Used as shade tree, found in residential areas and parks.
Traditional uses in Native American Tree Medicine (historical):
Information provided by Paul Red Elk, Lakota Medicine Man:
Homeowners’ Corner: Pin oak is infrequently attacked by the common diseases of oaks. It is susceptible to iron chlorosis due to alkaline soils, which cause yellow coloration in the leaves through the summer months and can eventually kill the tree. Insect pests include leaf cutter ants, gypsy moth, obscure scale, oak leaftier, pin oak sawfly, scarlet oak sawfly, forest tent caterpillar, leaf roller, horned oak gall wasp, and gouty oak gall wasp. Disease problems include oak wilt, oak leaf blister, pin oak blight, and Dothiorella canker.