Pin Oak

About Pin Oak in Alberta

Pin Oak is an introduced ornamental red-oak-group tree in Alberta, not a native species. It is approved for some Edmonton municipal planting contexts, but it is best treated as an uncommon, site-sensitive ornamental rather than a standard prairie oak. For ARA, notable pin oaks are most likely older park, campus, cemetery, institutional, or sheltered urban specimens that show successful long-term survival despite Alberta's frequent alkaline-soil and prairie-site challenges.

Identification: Leaves are alternate, simple, deeply cut, and bristle-tipped, with 5-7 pointed lobes. The deep U-shaped sinuses can extend close to the midrib, making the leaves more sharply cut than many other planted oaks.

Alberta range and habitat: Pin Oak is not native to Alberta. Canadian native distribution is eastern, not Albertan.