Backyard and Beyond

Pin Oak, Quercus palustris, is ubiquitous in NYC. The smallish acorns are all over the sidewalks now. (Palustris means swamp; the trees can take the compacted, anaerobic soils of tree pits.)

I enjoy hearing them blonking atop cars this time of year. Other creatures enjoy them for other reasons.

Bur Oak, Q. macrocarpa is unusual in the city. But the binomial says it all: large fruit.