Pin Oak

As flowering trees, oaks also produce fruit–acorns. Acorn production begins at around 30 to 40 years of age. Acorns are a primary food source for animals such as squirrels and ducks. Squirrels play a vital role in the planting of acorns. Sometimes, they forget about the acorns they hid, and the acorns have an opportunity to become a new tree.

Pin oak trees produce hardwood, which is used for furniture, floorboards, and wine barrels. Wineries use pin oak bark to make barrels because they help cultivate the wine’s taste. Native Americans also used the bark to make a drink to treat intestinal pain.

Some oak trees contract bacterial leaf scorch, a disease transmitted by xylem-feeding insects like leafhoppers. This disease infects the vessels that carry water and nutrients throughout the tree.

While common in oak trees, the disease can also affect other native trees, such as elm, sycamore, mulberry, sweetgum, sugar maple, and red maple.

*This resource is a product of Dr. Sara Wright’s Plant Diversity course in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Department.