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| This week in the arboretum, check out the developing acorns on the overcup oaks (Quercus lyrata). There are four overcups in the collection, spread out across the arboretum, and each one has at least a few acorns. The specimen pictured below has more than its fair share. |
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| We discussed this individual back in August. At the time, the tree was covered with a profundity of immature acorn clusters, and the individual acorns were mostly concealed by the large caps. You can find those pictures here. Today, as we see from the following images, the acorn itself is visible and the caps vary in size. |
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| This particular tree makes studying acorns a pleasure. Can you see how the lower branches nearly touch the ground as it slopes upward toward Rotary Hall? And there are acorns on these lower branches! No ladder necessary. |
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| Some acorns are solitary. |
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| And there are several clusters as well. You can easily maneuver the branches to study the acorns and appreciate the different textures: the cap is very bumpy, while the acorn itself is smooth. |
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| Immature overcup oak acorns, photographed October 9, 2022 |
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| With so many immature acorns to examine, we can see variations. |
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| We snipped two acorns to take measurements and to show
the variation in cap shape. These are large fruits, and we see in the above
photo that they are already more than an inch in length. The caps cover different proportions of the acorn. The cap on the left nearly engulfs the whole fruit. |
