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Tree Campus: Pin Oak

Tree Campus SCC is a multi-year and interdisciplinary college initiative to document, map, and celebrate the incredible diversity of trees planted on the campus. With over 200 species, Shoreline Community College is an arboreal paradise that deserves to b

Title

Pin Oak

Quercus palustris (FAGACEAE)

Description

Range

Central-Eastern USA, S. Ontario

Ecology

Ecology

"Pin oak acorns are an important food for wildlife including white-tailed deer, squirrels, wild turkeys, woodpeckers, bluejays, and waterfowl. Acorns are an especially important food source for wood ducks and mallards during fall migration. Bottomland hardwoods that are seasonally flooded provide nesting sites for colonial waterbirds and many passerines. Pin oak is an important species in greentree reservoirs (artificially flooded areas) that attract and provide food for migrating waterfowl." [1]

Equity

Equity: Cultural and Historical Significance

"Pin oak is widely planted as a shade tree and ornamental. It transplants well and tolerates urban stresses such as street salt, acid rain, and smoke. Black ink can be made from twig galls on pin oak." [1]

Economics

Economics

"Pin oak does not self-prune, so the wood has many small knots which reduce its quality and utility. The hard, heavy wood is used locally for construction timbers, mine props, and fuel.

Pin oak is recommended for graded/top-soiled mine spoils. In southern Illinois, pin oak seedlings (both planted and direct seeded) had among the best survival and growth of nine oak species tested on graded cast overburden covered with about 16 inches (40 cm) of eroded old field surface soil. Pin oak has naturally established on surface-mined lands in Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma." [1]

Sources

Sources

[1] Carey, Jennifer H. 1992. Quercus palustris. In: Fire Effects Information System,. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer). Available: https://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/quepal/all.html.

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