Scientific name: Quercus palustris
Common name: pin oak
Native: Yes
Native range: Native to southern New England and the Midwest [1,2,3].
Distribution in North America: Click to view the USDA Plants Database page for Q. palustris.
USDA Zones: 4A-8A [2]
Maximum age: Reaches maturity between 80-100 years of age and perishes soon after, but it may live up to approximately 195 years of age [3,5].
Ecology: It is the preferred host for the larvae of many butterflies and moths, leafrollers, and gall wasps, including the larvae of the wasp-mimicking pin oak clearwing moth, Paranthrene pallucida [3,6]. Deer, ducks, turkeys, and a variety of other animals depend on the pin oak's acorns for food - so much so that the tree is often planted on hunting grounds to attract them [1,3].
Ethnobotany: The pin oak's wood is knotty and warps easily, best lending itself to rougher applications such as railroad ties [1,3]. The Delaware people use tea made from the inner bark to treat stomach pain [4].
Eat the Planet: Oak Tree Acorns, A High Calorie Wild Edible
Eat the Weeds: Acorns - The Inside Story
In Defense of Plants: Red or White?
In Defense of Plants: Oaks - Insights into Evolution & Ecology
Native American Ethnobotany Database: Quercus palustris Muenchh.
USDA: Pin Oak Plant Fact Sheet
[1] https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/
[2] https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdf/ST/ST55500.pdf
[3] https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/misc/
ag_654/volume_2/quercus/palustris.htm
[4] http://naeb.brit.org/uses/species/3279/
[5] https://extension.illinois.edu/sites/default/
