Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 August 1896 — The Oak. [ARTICLE]

The Oak.

The male flowers of the oak are gathered in distinct clusters round a long, swaying stalk; they approach rmjch nearer to the conventional idea ofi a flower individually. Instead of a mere aggregation of anthers of cells on simple scales, those of the oJ»k' are possessed of distinct starlike, hairy calyces, each marked off intp six or seven lpbes,' and- containing ten slehder stpmeips, two. celled anthers. J'hen tnerfimgife (iWyerjj, which argusually two or tlireo, near ealfegpthefcjrilijut’not connected, consist aw^avapy, with three short-curved styles and invested by a calyx that adheres ciosfeljt to it and becomes the husk or shell"of the acorn. The whole, except the styles, is held in a cup formed of many small, overlapping, scales,, which afterward lose their individuality and shrink into mere roughness on the outside of the cup that holds the acorn. For only one of the six‘4>fcules contained in the ovary develops into an acorn of the acorn oak.