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| ## northern pin oak {#northern-pin-oak .Title-Header}                 |
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| *Quercus ellipsoidalis* E.J. Hill                                     |
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| Plant Symbol = QUEL                                                   |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & the Biota of
North America Program

### 

## Alternate Names

Hill\'s oak, jack oak, upland pin oak

## Uses

The heavy wood of northern pin oak is used for furniture, flooring, and
interior finishing as well as for posts, railroad ties, shingles, fuel,
and some hardwood pulp.

Northern pin oak acorns are eaten by a variety of wildlife species
including gray squirrels, white-tailed deer, and blue jays. Trunk
cavities are utilized as nesting sites by wood ducks, eastern kingbirds,
and the federally endangered Kirtland\'s warbler.

Northern pin oak is useful for rehabilitating disturbed sites. It has a
deep root system and successfully maintains growth even on nutrient-poor
soils and during drought. It is rarely planted in landscapes but has
long-persistent leaves with outstanding fall color (orange and red to
reddish brown) and should be considered for dry sites.

## Status![](media/image2.png){width="2.597916666666667in" height="3.9555555555555557in"}

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status such as state noxious status
and wetland indicator values.

## Description 

*General*: Beech Family (Fagaceae). Native trees growing to 21 m tall,
with an irregularly rounded crown and low-hanging lower branches that
persist as dead stubs, giving a ragged appearance to the trunk; bark
dark gray, smoothish, furrowed into narrow ridges on lower trunk and
older branches. Leaves alternate, elliptic-obovate to elliptic-oblong,
8--12(--17) cm long, 6-15 cm wide, with 5--7 bristle-tipped lobes
broadest toward the tip, the sinuses rounded or elliptic and
thumb-shaped, cut nearly 3/4 to the midvein, bright green above, with
tufts of hairs in vein axils below, commonly turning red in fall. Male
and female flowers are borne in separate catkins on the same tree (the
species monoecious); staminate flowers develop from leaf buds of axils
of the previous year, the pistillate flowers from buds formed during the
current year. Acorns maturing in the second year, elliptic to broadly
ovate, 1.2--2 cm long, the finely hairy cup enclosing 1/3--1/2 of the
acorn and tapering to a stalk-like base. The common name from the close
similarity to pin oak (*Q. coccinea*), but with a more northern
distribution. Use of 'Hill's oak' as the common name avoids confusion
with 'pin oak' (*Q. coccinea*), which is closely similar.

Northern pin oak is in the red oak subgroup (subgenus *Erythrobalanus*)
and hybridizes with *Q. rubra* (northern red oak) and *Q. velutina*
(black oak).

Northern pin oak is distinguished from pin oak by its more tapering and
elongated acorns and its preference for drier habitats. The leaves are
shed in the autumn, whereas those of pin oak persist into the winter.

*Variation within the species*: There are no recognized varieties.

## Distribution

Northern pin oak is distributed primarily in the middle and western
parts of the Great Lakes region \-- from central Michigan east to
noth-central Wisconsin, eastern Iowa, northern Illinois, and northern
Indiana. Disjunct populations occur in northern Ohio, Arkansas, and
extreme southeastern North Dakota. For current distribution, please
consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

## Adaptation 

Northern pin oak is an upland species that commonly grows on dry, acid,
sandy soils with a thin organic layer. It most often occurs on sandy
plains and sandstone hills, and develops into pure populations only on
such sites (an edaphic climax). It is the most droughts tolerant of all
black oaks. It occasionally grows on moderately mesic slopes or uplands
in varying mixtures with white oak (*Q. alba*), black oak (*Q.
velutina*), scarlet oak (*Q. coccinea*), bur oak (*Q. macrocarpa*), and
northern red oak (*Q. borealis*).

Flowering happens from March through May and fruiting from late August
to early December.

## Establishment

Seed production begins at about 20 years of age. Good seed crops are
produced every 2--3 years. Predation by weevils may greatly reduce
reproduction potential even in mast years. Northern pin oak reproduces
vegetatively by sprouting from the root collar or stump if top-killed or
cut.

## Management

The thick bark of mature trees (greater than 25 cm d.b.h.) minimizes
fire damage. Smaller trees are easily damaged by surface fires but
commonly sprout vigorously from the root collar or stump after top-kill.
Repeated annual burns kill smaller diameter stems. Leaves of Northern
pin oak may become chlorotic in high pH soils.

Northern pin oak is not easily transplanted because of the rapid
development of a deep taproot. Nor is it widely available in the nursery
trade. Seeds germinate after dormancy is broken by stratification for
30-45 days at 1-5° C.

*Oak wilt*

Northern pin oak is susceptible to oak wilt infection, a fungal disease
that invades the water-conducting vessels and plugs them. As water
movement is slowed, the leaves wilt and rapidly drop off the tree. The
disease begins with a crinkling and paling of the leaves, followed by
wilting and browning from the margins inward. Necrosis may be strongest
along the veins or between them. The symptoms move down branches toward
the center of the tree and the tree may die within 1--3 months, although
some diseased trees may survive up to a year. The disease may be spread
by insects (primarily beetles) or pruning tools, but most of the tree
loss in oak wilt centers results from transmission through root spread
between adjoining trees. A trench (dug and then immediately filled)
between neighboring trees severs the roots and prevents fungus spread.
Dead and infected trees must be destroyed -- once a tree has become
infected, there is little chance to save it. The wood may be used for
firewood provided it is debarked or covered and sealed during the spring
and summer (Johnson and Appel 2000; Roberts 2000; Wisconsin Dept. of
Natural Resources 2000; City of Austin 2000).

This disease most seriously infects species of the red oak group
(including black and live oaks). Overcup oak, bur oak, white oak, and
other members of the white oak group are not as susceptible and can be
planted in oak wilt centers. Oak wilt has reached epidemic proportions
in Texas and in the mid-West from Iowa and Minnesota through Michigan
and Wisconsin into Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

## Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone
book under "United States Government." The Natural Resources
Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading "Department of
Agriculture."

## References

Coladonato, M. 1993. *Quercus ellipsoidalis*. IN: W.C. Fischer
(compiler). *The fire effects information system* \[Database\]. USDA,
Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Intermountain Fire
Sciences Laboratory. Missoula, Montana.

City of Austin 2000. *The oak wilt suppression program*. Austin Parks
and Recreation, Austin, Texas. SEP00.
\<http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/oakwilt/\>

Johnson, J. & D. Appel 2000. Eight step program to oak wilt management.
Department of Plant Pathology & Microbiology, Texas A&M University,
College Station, Texas. \<http://cygnus.tamu.edu/Texlab/oakwilt.html\>
Accessed September 2000.

Nixon, K.C. et al. 1993. *Quercus*. Pp. 445-506, IN: *Flora of North
America, North of Mexico. Vol. 3*. Oxford Univ. Press, New York, New
York. SEP00.
\<http://hua.huh.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/Flora/flora.pl?FLORA_ID=12395\>

Roberts, D.L. 2000. *Oak wilt: A threat to red oaks*. Michigan State
University Extension Website. SEP00.

\<http://www.msue.msu.edu/reg_se/oakwilt/\>

Samuel Roberts Nobel Foundation 1999. *Noble foundation plant image
gallery*. Ardmore, Oklahoma. 29nov2000.
\<http://www.noble.org/imagegallery/index.html\>

Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources 2000. *Oak wilt in Wisconsin:
Biology and management*. Wisconsin DNR Website. SEP00.
\<http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/forestry/fh/diseases/oakwilt.htm\>

## Prepared By

*Guy Nesom*

Formerly BONAP, North Carolina Botanical Garden, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

## Species Coordinator

### *Gerald Guala*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Edited: 13nov00 jsp; 13feb03 ahv; 060809 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

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