Wednesday, December 19, 2007

hairy acorns




The other day, Jon came home from work with the most interesting looking acorns we've ever seen!! We'd love to know what kind of oak tree they are from if anyone knows. I'm posting two pictures- one that shows the top of my favorite one pretty clearly, and one including a nickle so you can see the size of these things! Do let me know if you can identify them. If you click on the image you'll get a larger version.

They immediately beg to have faces drawn on them- they look like little Russian fur hats!!

We've had a couple of good school weeks and I have decided it's now officially Christmas break. We went light on the decorations this year, and we've let David decorate the tree with mostly home made ornaments. I think he enjoyed it!

We've shopped some and wrapped some, and I think we're about ready. How about you? I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!! Travel safely if you're on the road.

9 comments:

Artmaker - Cecilia Price said...

Wow, these are incredible! Ask Jon where they came from and what the tree looked like! I have never seen them this big, according to the size of the nickel, nor with all that fuzzy stuff! This would make a beautiful painting, especially the second one! Very interested to know what these are! Try gardenweb.com, maybe somebody over there knows.

Beautiful blog, Leslie!

Cia

Anonymous said...

Hey les, I don't know what they are but I have seen them at the arboretum and I bet some one there can tell you.
P.S. look forward to seeing little acorn people.

Sherry Pierce Thurner said...

Goodness, I have never seen anything like these acorns! The internet is amazing....

Anonymous said...

Hi there

I think your acorns come from the Burr Oak - Quercus macrocarpa. I found some today too, and have been searching ever since.

David

Tideswellman said...

I'm glad I found your page because I found some like this in the park last week and was wondering what kind of Oak they were. I'm off to check out the Burr Oak now.

Tideswellman said...

Yes.Burr oak
http://www.jeffersoncountyconservation.com/newsletter.html

Anonymous said...

Having just found similar acorns on the UK Central South coast, I suspect I am looking at a Turkey Oak. http://www.british-trees.com/treeguide/oaks/nbnsys0000003843
If I am right, the nuts are similar in size & shape to our British Oak acorns, with a hairy cup. The Link above says they are bad for our native oak trees.

Leslie said...

That's really interesting! Your Turkey Oak must be the same as our Burr Oak. I haven't read anything about Burr Oaks being bad for our local native oaks, but they may be. The acorns sure are interesting, though!

River Dweller said...

Aka: Fuzzy Cup Oak
Mine died been looking for those darn acorns for over 10 yes now.
Anyone taking orders? :)
Goldinyou@gmail.com