Quercus Palustris - Associated Forest Cover

Associated Forest Cover

Pin oak is a major species in only one forest cover type, Pin Oak-Sweetgum, which is found on bottom lands and some upland sites throughout the central portion of the pin oak range. Associated species in this type include red maple (Acer rubrum), American elm (Ulmus americana), black tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor), willow oak (Q. phellos), overcup oak (Q. lyrata), bur oak (Q. macrocarpa), green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica), Nuttall oak (Quercus nuttallii), swamp chestnut oak (Q. michauxii), and shellbark (Carya laciniosa) and shagbark (C. ovata) hickories. Pin oak and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) vary in their relative proportions in this cover type. Large areas of almost pure pin oak occur on the "pin oak flats" of the upland glacial till plains or in the bottom lands of the lower Ohio and central Mississippi River valleys.

Pin oak is an associated species in Silver Maple-American Elm in the bottom lands along the Ohio, Wabash, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers. A variant of this type, silver maple-American elm-pin oak-sweetgum, is found along major streams in southern Illinois and Indiana.

Pin oak also occurs in Black Ash-American Elm-Red Maple in poorly drained bottom lands in northern Ohio and Indiana along with silver maple (Acer saccharinum), swamp white oak, sycamore (Platanus occidentalis), black tupelo, and eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides).