Pin Oak

 Quercus palustris

Identification Information

Date: Saturday, June 12, 2021

Time:  4:45 p.m.

Location:  Highland Memorial Park (701 Farmington Avenue, Pottstown, PA 19464)

Habitat:  Temperate Mixed Forest

Weather conditions:  86 degrees Fahrenheit, slightly humid, some cloud cover

This one has got its eye on you.

Some oaks are hard to tell apart for the average on-looker.  They pretty much all have the same type of bark--rough and ridged.  Most acorns look the same.  There are a few species that are short and squat or extra long, but a bit of strange development can give you that as well.  

So one of the most telling parts of the tree in terms of identification is the leaf.  

Rounded lobes for white oaks; pointy lobes for red oaks.  My eyeball tree is definitely in the red oak group.

Since I am here in the early summer, I don't know what color these leaves will be in the fall.  The shape, however indicates either Black Oak or Pin Oak.  Both of those trees have leaves that are oblong, pinnate, deeply lobed and toothed with 5 - 7 lobes.  (Brockman, 1986, p. 126)

The distinguishing characteristic of Pin Oaks are that their lower branches point downwards, middle branches point out, and upper branches point upwards.

Nielsen, R. K. (2020, February 27). Common types of oak trees. Owlcation. Retrieved June 15, 2021, 

     from https://owlcation.com/stem/Types-of-Oak-Trees-with-pictures-of-bark