Progeny

One of the things I've endeavored to do in retirement is to pay closer attention to what's going on in the natural world around me.                

At the end of May I published a post about the large numbers of catkins hanging from the white oak tree in our yard.  As it turns out these are one of the flowers that are produced by the tree – the male flower to be certain.         

This species is monoecious – meaning that it produces both male and female flowers. Each male flower typically has six stamens (ranges from two to twelve) which have long spreading white filaments when the flower fully opens.  The female flowers are more reddish-green and appear as small slender spikes in the axils of new growth.               

My sources suggest that white oaks mature sufficiently at twenty or more years of age before they are capable of producing acorns.  Large numbers of acorns won't materialize until the tree is fifty years of age.              

This oak was planted 16 years-ago as a one or two year-old bare root seeding.  A mere fifteen inch stick about as big around as a thick pencil.

It barely survived the first years of its life and I often thought it wouldn't amount to anything.

Suffice to say it has grown into a handsome teenager.                

Looky what we got growing....