10 THE OAK 



CHAPTER n 



THE ACORN AND ITS GERMINATION THE SEEDLING 



WHEN 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 



