Northern Pin Oak

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Northern Pin Oak

Conservation status

Least concern

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Rosopsida
Order:	Fagales
Family:	Fagaceae
Genus:	Quercus
Species:	Q. ellipsoidalis

Binomial name

Quercus ellipsoidalis
E.J.Hill

The Northern Pin Oak or Hill's Oak (Quercus ellipsoidalis) is an oak in the red oak section Quercus sect. Lobatae. It is mainly native to the northern midwest United States, and also in the southeast and southwest of Ontario, Canada. It occurs on dry, sandy, usually acidic soils. Although the name suggests an alliance to the Pin Oak Q. palustris, it is more closely related to the Scarlet Oak Q. coccinea, and is included in that species by some botanists.

It is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing to 20 m tall with an open, rounded crown. The leaves are glossy green, 7-13 cm long and 5-10 cm broad, lobed, with five or seven lobes, and deep sinuses between the lobes. Each lobe has 3-7 bristle-tipped teeth. The leaf is nearly hairless, except for small tufts of pale orange-brown down where the lobe veins join the central vein. The acorns are ellipsoid (ellipse-shaped, from which its scientific name derives), 6-11 mm long and 10-19 mm broad, a third to a half covered in a deep cup, green maturing pale brown about 18 months after pollination; the kernel is very bitter.

[edit] Uses

Northern Pin Oak is occasionally planted as an ornamental tree, popular for its bright red fall color and tolerance of infertile sandy soils. The wood is too small to be of any importance, but is similar to that of other red oaks.