Northern Pin Oak, Hill's Oak

Native to MN, WI, IA, northern IL & IN, and to spots in MI. Good quality shade tree that should be planted more. Offered by a few large n...Read Moreurseries and native plant nurseries, but not a big item. It develops a taproot which makes it harder to transplant, so most nurseries don't grow it for a balled & burlapped product. Can be grown in containers just fine. Northern Red Oak and Pin Oak are similar and are planted much more. Grows in well-drained upland soils that are acid or slightly alkaline of pH 6.0 to 7.5. Would not have the leaf yellowing iron chlorosis problem that Pin Oak develops so often in soils that are not acid enough, that are above 6.7 pH. So far, I have only seen it at Morton Arboretum in Lisle, IL, in their Oak Collection, so it is not a common tree everywhere, just in a few spots here and there. Grows about 1 foot/year and lives about 150 to 250 years.

The leaves of Northern Pin Oak (Quercus ellipsoidalis) can be distinguished from Northern Red Oak (Quercus rubra) by the deep sinuses and...Read More shiny surface of the former compared to the shallow sinuses and (often) dull surfaces of the latter. The leaves of Northern Pin Oak (Q. ellipsoidalis) are similar to those of Scarlet Oak (Q. coccinea), Pin Oak (Q. palustris) and Black Oak (Q. velutina). The first two are very rare in southern Wisconsin and Minnesota. Black Oak (Q. velutina) is more common, but is in the mostly southern parts of MN and WI.

Northern Pin Oak (Quercus ellipsoidalis) 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.

Northern Pin Oak (Quercus ellipsoidalis) 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 drought 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. rubra).

Northern Pin Oak (Quercus ellipsoidalis) is very common in West-Central Wisconsin and the Twin Cities of Minnesota. It is more common than the Northern Red Oak (Q. rubra) in the eastern part of the Twin Cities.