Name: Katarina
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
How do oak trees reproduce - are there male & female
parts to an oak?
Replies:
Dear Mike,
Yes,
see http://naturesmart.com/articles/1998_3rd_qtr.htm
"Each spring the oak trees produce both male and female flowers. Both kinds
of flowers are small and green and go unnoticed by the casual observer.
These flowers
open and become pollinated before the leaves of the tree have a chance to grow.
After pollination the white oak acorns grow and mature in only one season.
If we have a warm spring and a summer with enough rain (like this summer)
we will have
a heavy crop of acorns in autumn. That's why a heavy crop of acorns is not
a indicator of the severity of winter but rather a reflection of the past
spring and summer.
The red oaks also produce flowers each spring. The acorns of these trees
take two seasons to mature so they drop their acorns only every other year.
The same
false winter weather rule applies to the red acorns as does the whites."
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