Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

PIN OAK

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Quercus palustris Muenchh.

Harvey County, Kansas

Height: 40-80 feet

Family: Fagaceae - Oak Family

Flowering Period: April, May

Trunks:

Straight, diameter 1-2 feet; crown pyramidal or oblong; lower branches drooping, middle branches nearly horizontal, upper branches ascending; bark thick, grayish-brown, smooth or with broad, shallow furrows, ridges flat-topped.

Twigs:

Slender, stiff, pin-like, initially dark red, woolly, becoming reddish-brown to grayish-brown, glabrous, shiny; leaf scars half-round; bundle scars 10 or more; terminal bud about 1/8 inch long; lateral buds clustered at tip of twig, egg-shaped or conical, 1/8 to 1/6 inch long, pointed, reddish-brown, glabrous or with few hairs at tip.

Leaves:

Alternate, simple, deciduous, leathery, egg-shaped in outline, 2 to 6.4 inches long, 2 to 4.8 inches wide; lobes 5-7, slender, few-toothed, usually tapering at right angles to midrib; apex sometimes expanded, bristle-tipped; sinuses deep, often approaching midrib, wide, rounded; upper surface dark green, glabrous, shiny; lower surface paler, hairs in vein axils; stalk .8 to 2.4 inches long, slender, glabrous; base wedge-shaped to broadly blunt or cut straight across; stipules linear or oblanceolate, 1/4 inch long; unfolding leaves reddish-brown, hairy; in autumn, initially turn scarlet, become brown, often persist on tree during winter.

Flowers:

With the leaves, monoecious; staminate catkins 2 to 3 inches long, drooping, loosely-flowered; flowers small, brownish, hairy, sessile or with short pubescent stalk; calyx bell-shaped, 3-5-lobed, tip acute, ciliate; stamens 4-6; anthers yellow; pistillate flowers at base of leaves on new growth, small, spherical, green; stalks short; involucre scales woolly; styles 3, curved outward, green with pink tip; stigmas 3-lobed, flattened, recurved, red.

Fruit:

Autumn of second year; acorn, sessile or short-stalked; cup saucer-shaped, shallow, 2/5 to 3/4 inch wide, 1/8 to 1/4 inch high, enclosing only base of nut; cup scales triangular, reddish-brown, closely appressed, pubescent or glabrous, margins dark; nut dome-shaped to egg-shaped, 1/2 to 3/5 inch long, 2/5 to 3/5 inch in diameter, often ridged, light brown, base flattened; kernel bitter.

Habitat:

River bottoms on rich moist soil but also may be found on rocky wooded hillsides on poorly drained clay soils.

Distribution:

East 1/3 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Uses:

Native American steeped the inner bark and took the liquid for intestinal pains. Squirrels, blue jays, and wood ducks eat the nuts. Planted as a street and residence ornamental tree. The wood is used for interior finishes, railroad ties, and to make pins and small pegs for fasteners.

Comments:

The common name alludes to the short twigs which resemble pin-like spurs. The wood is hard, heavy, strong, coarse-grained, light brown with a thin, darker sapwood. It often has many small knots.

Pin oak staminate flowers