Plant
Pin oak
Quercus palustris
A medium-sized native oak with pyramidal habit, sharply-lobed leaves, and a distinctive form: lower branches droop, middle branches grow horizontally, upper branches angle upward. Tolerates moist soils better than most oaks. Common as both a native forest species and a planted street/park tree across Staten Island. Hosts the same wildlife community as other red-oak-group species — acorns for grey squirrels, blue jays, woodpeckers, deer; foliage for hundreds of insect species.
Scientific
[[oak|Quercus]] palustris is a 60–80 ft deciduous oak in the red-oak group. Distinctive form — lower branches droop, middle branches roughly horizontal, upper branches angled upward, producing a pyramidal silhouette. Sharply-lobed leaves with bristle-tipped lobes (red-oak-group feature).
Tolerates wet, periodically-flooded soils better than most oaks. The Latin name palustris means “of marshes” — though the species is broadly tolerant of upland sites too. Combined with high tolerance of urban conditions (compacted soil, salt, pollution), this makes pin oak one of the most-commonly-planted urban oaks in the eastern U.S.
Acorns mature in two years (red-oak-group pattern), are bitter (high tannins), and are eaten by deer, squirrels, blue jays, and woodpeckers — though the high tannin content makes them less palatable than white-oak acorns.
On Staten Island
Common as both native forest species and planted street/park tree borough-wide. Pin oaks line many SI residential streets and are common in NYC Parks plantings. Native populations occur in the Greenbelt and at moist forest sites.
See also
Auto-generated from this entry’s typed relations: frontmatter, grouped by relation type so the editorial signal isn’t flattened.
- Counterpart to: [[eastern-white-oak]]
- Member of: [[plants]]
- Contained by: [[staten-island]]
Sources
- USDA Forest Service Silvics of North America: pin oak
- USDA NRCS Plants Database
Rooted in life.
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Scientific
cousin of
- Oak auto-linked from body mention
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