THE GERMINATION AND JUVENILE FORMS 
OF SOME OAKS. 
L. H. PAMMEL AND C. M. KING. 
The question of how some of our oaks germinate and the fact 
that little has been recorded upon tliis subject has come to us 
.on several occasions. 
It is definitely known that the white oak germinates in the 
fall and the red oak in the spring. The bur-oak, according to 
the statement of a Minnesota correspondent, germinates in the 
fall. We have held the opinion that this oak, although not 
closely related to the red and black oaks, also germinates in the 
spring, an opinion recently verified by actual observation. This 
fact is undoubtedly due largely to its environmental conditions, 
the bur-oak occurring in situations that are somewhat dry. There 
is some difference of opinion regarding the germination of the 
English oak. The botanical authors in the Encyclopedia Brit- 
tannica 1 state that the acorns of this oak germinate in the spring. 
This is contrary to what we find to be true in the East-European 
form of the English oak, commonly known as the Russian oak 
( Quercus Robur var. pedunculata) which is grown on our college 
campus. The acorns of this oak germinate in the fall. In view 
of this lack of well established information, it, seems timely to 
publish a few preliminary notes on the germination of some 
Iowa oaks. 
Figures of germinating acorns of some oaks have been used 
to illustrate texts on Morphology ; as the classic figure in Gray ’s 
Structural Botany 2 used by various authors and illustrations 
from Sach’s and from Rossmassler in Marshall Ward’s 3 treatise 
on the oak. 
Dr. George Engelmann 4 made a study of the germination of 
the live oak ( Q . virginiana ) , in which he records the develop- 
ment of little tubers, a fact well known to the negro children 
of the South, by whom they are eaten. 
CEncycl. Britt.. 19, 931 (11 Ed.). Also in the previous edition. 
2 Lessons in Botany, Gray (6 ed.), 20. 
3 The Oak, H. Marshall Ward, 20, 22. 
4 E'otanical work of the late George Engelmann, edited hv Gray and 
Trelease ; also Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis 4, 408-410. 
