Early Blooms

The red oak tree in the yard was a bare root stick when planted twenty years ago.  In the intervening decades it has grown into a handsome pre-adolescent.   

The other day I noticed that the tree had large numbers of catkins hanging from the prior year’s growth as the leaves of 2023 emerged from their buds.

Yes oak have blossoms too.  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. 

I gave this tree a thorough examination and could find no flowers of the female persuasion. Not surprising inasmuch as they are not visible to the naked eye.  It is from the female flower that acorns are formed.  Red 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.  Which makes sense for a tree that will live many hundreds of years. 

This tree has been producing acorns for about 5-6 years.

Overachiever.....