There are more than 7,000 trees in Alexandra Park and our resident expert, Stephen Middleton from The Friends of Alexandra Park is introducing us to some of his favourites.

Dark red dramatic autumn leaf colour from this North American Tree of the Month. 

Starting at the Bedford Road entrance, walk along the Lower Road past the layby on the left and about 200 metres further on turn right into an enclosed meadow area (the Anthill Meadow). Looking straight ahead and slightly to the left and shining out is the Pin Oak (Quercus palustris).

The palustris part of the scientific name means marsh in Latin, hinting at its other common name, the Swamp Oak. It is able to put up with flooding especially during its dormant winter period. 

Looking at the lobes of the leaves you can immediately tell that this is not one of our native oaks. The lobes are pointed with a whisker on the end compared to the rounded lobes of our two native oaks.

This species of tree was first introduced into Britain by the plant collector, John Fraser, in about 1800. He was responsible for introducing more than 200 species of plants from ‘the New World’.

The pin oak, which can reach up to 25 metres in height, comes from the northeastern United States as well as a small part of bordering Canada.

The branches of the tree tend to rise at the top of the tree, are level in the middle section and may even droop at the base.

Our tree of the month doesn’t mind clay soil, but suffers from leaf yellowing if the soil is too alkaline.

Like many trees in the beech family, young swamp oaks can hang on to their dead leaves throughout the winter, “marcescence”.

The pin oak was used in its native lands for producing charcoal and the tannins from the bark were employed in treating animal hides.

The pin in the name pin oak is thought to come from the thin pointed lower branches. 

I have not found any other examples of our tree of the month in the park, however, there are several examples of its relative, also from North America, the red oak. There is one just to the right of the entrance to the Garden Centre.

The Friends of Alexandra Park are organising a free tree walk on Saturday, 17 October starting at 11am at the large black entrance gates near Safestore/Victoria Stakes