PIN OAK 



(Quercus Palustris) 



PN oak ranges from certain sections of Massachusetts, notably the 

 Connecticut river valley, and near Amherst, westward as far as the 

 southeastern part of Missouri; on the south it is found along the lower 

 Potomac river in Virginia, in Kentucky, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. 



It is known as pin oak in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode 

 Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, Arkan- 

 sas, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Kansas; in Arkansas and 

 Kansas it is called swamp Spanish oak; in Rhode Island and Illinois 

 it is often known as water oak; in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kansas as 

 swamp oak; in Arkansas as water Spanish oak. 



The name phi oak is said to belong to this tree because of a peculiar- 

 ity of its branches. They leave the trunk and the larger limbs at nearly 

 right angles, and criss-cross in all directions, resembling pins thrust into 

 the wood, and bristling outward at every angle. The crowding to which 

 they are subjected kills many of them as the tree reaches middle age, 

 but the stubs do not drop quickly, and as many of the characteristic 

 pins appear to be present as ever. Such is the usual explanation given 

 to account for the name, and the facts fit the theory; but the fact that 

 several other species are called pin oaks is not accounted for. The 

 habit of the branches of all of them is not the same. The Gambel oak in 

 its Arizona range has that name. So has the chinquapin oak in Arkansas 

 and Texas, but that is apparently a shortening of its true name, the last 

 syllable only being used. They call the Durand oak pin oak in Texas, 

 but without any known reason. 



The botanical name palustris, belonging to this species, refers to the 

 tree's habit of growing in swamps and damp land along river bottoms. 

 It is not a swamp tree as cypress is, but is more like swamp white oak, 

 and finds its most congenial surroundings on the borders of streams and 

 on fairly well drained lowland where roots readily reach water. 



The leaves are three or five inches long, are simple, and alternate. 

 They are broad, and have from five to nine lobes which are toothed, and 

 bristle-tipped on the ends. The sinuses are broad and rounded, and ex- 

 tend well toward the midrib, which is stout, and from which the veins 

 branch off conspicuously. In color the leaves are bright green above 

 and lighter below when young, becoming thin, firm and darker green at 

 maturity; late in autumn they turn a rich, deep scarlet. They are 

 coated below with pubescense, and have large tufts of pale hairs in the 

 axils of the veins. 



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