The Pin Oak is a member of the red oak group. The tree is tall (75 feet) with a bole diameter over two feet. The trunk is dark and broken into fine grooves. Leaves are three to six inches long and the dead leaves stay on the tree from fall to spring. They are deeply lobed and shiny on top and hairless underneath. The leaves are red-pink in the fall. The acorns are one-half inch long and short saucer shaped caps. Twigs are hairless and have small, pointy hairless buds.

The growing region is from Kansas to New York. Oak is a hardwood providing a major portion of the annual lumber in the United States. Pioneers used the branches to make pins and hinge bolts for holding timber pieces together. Now the trees are used primarily for ornamental purposes in the yard. Oak trees are generally slow-growing and long-lived and tend to be relatively resistant to diseases and insects. Tannin is a major produce from oak bark.