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| Storm winds shook the trees of the arboretum last week, rustling twigs loose to scatter on the ground, thus providing ample opportunity to study and compare a nice sample of leaves. Our big old mature trees tend to drop their lower branches, making their fresh summer-time foliage out of reach. One such specimen is the aged post oak (Quercus stellata) standing near the Student Union Building. Its gnarly branches are way up high, but this week some of those upper story leaves were knocked low. |
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| From the ground, there were a lot of nice leaves to sort through. We see variations in size and shape, but the general shape description runs the same: cross-shaped with five lobes. Although, does anyone else get the feeling that these leaves are reaching out for hugs? |
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| This photo captures the shiny quality of the leaf surface. Leaves laying flat on the concrete, sunlight bounces off the leaf surface. |
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| Standing the leaf up against the wet bricks takes away some of the shine. |
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| Irregular leaves make tree identification difficult. But, if you already know that it's a post oak, you can appreciate the irregularity, and say, "hey, that's an interesting shape! Cool." |
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| Irregular post oak leaf |
