Uses: Fuel, fence posts, coarse construction.
Habitat: Dry woods.
Range: Maine to southern Ontario, south to Oklahoma, east to Georgia.
Distinguishing Features: Scarlet Oak looks very much like Pin Oak, but differs in habitat and structure of the acorn cup. It sometimes resembles Black Oak but has shorter, less hairy buds and acorns without loosely arranged scales on the cup.
HILL’S OAK
Quercus ellipsoidalis E. J. Hill
Other Name: Northern Pin Oak.
Growth Form: Moderate tree to about 75 feet tall; trunk diameter up to 2 feet; crown rounded, with the drooping lowermost branches often reaching nearly to the ground.
Bark: Gray-black, rather smooth to shallowly fissured.
Twigs: Rather slender, smooth at maturity, grayish-brown to reddish-brown; pith star-shaped in cross-section; leaf scars alternate, but clustered near the tip of the twig, half-round, slightly elevated, with several bundle traces.