Quercus palustris – Pin Oak has a native range mainly in the eastern and central United States, and is a commonly used landscaping oak due to its ease of transplant, relatively fast growth, ability to grow in poor soils and pollution tolerance. This leaf came from a young tree in Farewell Bend Park, near the Deschutes River, in Bend, Oregon.
Pin oak is a medium-sized deciduous tree growing up to 70’ tall, and has a canopy with up to a 50’ spread. Young trees have a straight, columnar trunk with smooth bark and a pyramidal canopy with upper branches pointing upwards, the middle branches are perpendicular to trunk, and the lower branches droop downwards. The leaves are up to 6” long with five or seven lobes. Each lobe has 5-7 bristle-tipped teeth. Autumn leaf coloration is often red turning to bronze. Pin oak has a characteristic shared by a few other oak species, which is the retention of leaves through the winter on juvenile trees. Young trees under 20’ will often be covered with leaves year-round, though the leaves die in the fall, remaining attached to the shoots until the new leaves appear in the spring.