We have a few batches of photos but I can always use more. If you got good ones, please send ’em in!
Today we have a batch of photos from reader Rik Gern’s home in Austin, Texas, concentrating on the Burr Oak. Rik’s captions are indented, and you can enlarge his photos by clicking on them.
Here is another collection of nine seed photos, this one focusing exclusively on the largest acorns, those from the Burr Oak tree (Quercus macrocarpa).
The cap and nut, or cupule of scales and pericarp are separated here, allowing us to see the points of connection where the tree was able to deliver nutrients to the nut:
An isolated cap (first photo) and isolated nut (second photo). Every large acorn that I took home had the little scuff marks on the nut. I presume they are the result of the seed making contact with the sidewalk after dropping from the tree:
Here is the acorn as a complete unit. The little yarn-like bits at the bottom of the cap were very brittle and crumbled to the touch:
This close-up gives a good view of the burrs on the Burr Oak. They look like tiny icicles and give the acorn a slightly prickly feel when you pick it up, but it’s nothing really painful.
A close up of the remains of style (the tip at the end) for good measure. The nut is more weathered towards that end, presumably because it has been exposed to the elements longer, having been the first part to emerge from under the cupule of scales:
The top and bottom of a less mature acorn, where the pericarp is barely emerging from the cupule of scales:
Last, a view of the inside and outside of empty caps. I tried to play around with this to give it a bit of an Andrew-Wyeth like-feel:
These are spectacular shots, and it’s what the Internet should be for.
I was just in Custer State Park in the Black Hills and the oak trees, which I discovered are abundant there, had produced a big acorn crop, and the wildlife – bighorn sheep, deer, turkeys… – were all chowing down on them.
Beautiful shots. There must be a Fibonacci series involved in producing those acorn caps. Has to be.
Ahh… nuts!
Very interesting especially as we are having a bumper crop this Fall of common acorns from our several 70-something y.o. white oaks. I do not see anything about the Burr Oak acorn size. Did I just miss it?
You didn’t miss it, Jim; I neglected to include it. A mature acorn is about 2″ long and 1 1/2″ wide. The nut without the cap is ~ 1 2/3″ x 1″. The less mature specimen was ~ 1 1/4″ x 1 1/4″.
Thanks Rik. That’s incredible…matures are the size of some of our pine cones.
It is very interesting, and beautifully photographed, I never knew anything about tree seeds! Thank you
Yes, beautifully composed and especially beautifully lit,
There is an irritating tendency to spell Burr Oak with just one R. Same with chestnut burrs. I have no idea why.
Also, there are unincorporated communities named Burr Oak in both Iowa and Ohio.
Like a story without words