10 THE OAK 
CHAPTER II 
THE ACORN AND ITS GERMINATION—THE SEEDLING 
Wuen the acorns are falling in showers from the oaks 
in October and November, everybody knows that each 
of the polished, leather-brown, long, egg-shaped bodies 
tumbles out from a cup-like, scaly investment which 
surrounded its lower third at the broader end. Perhaps 
everybody would not be certain as to whether the 
detached acorn is a seed or a fruit, so I anticipate the 
difficulty by stating at the outset that the acorn is 
the fruit of the oak, and contains the seed within its 
brown shell, and I propose to commence our studies by 
examining an acorn, deferring the explanation of some 
minute details of structure until we come to trace the 
origin of the fruit and seed in the flower. 
The average size of the fruit is about 15 to 20 mm., 
or nearly three-quarters of an inch, long, by 8 to 
10 mm., or nearly one-third of an inch, broad at the 
middle of its length; the end inserted in the cup or 
cupule is broad and nearly flat, and marked by a large 
circular scar (fig. 2, s) denoting the surface of attachment 
to the cupule. This scar is rough, and exhibits a number 
