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Saturday 2 July 2011

Acorn

The acorn is the fruit of the oak tree and their close relatives. It usually contains a single seed (occasionally two seeds), enclosed in a tough, leathery shell, and borne in a shallow cup.

Oak trees don't produce acorns until they are 40-50 years of age.

Mature oak trees produce about 2,000 acorns each year.

Only one acorn in 10,000 will become an oak tree.

English oak trees differs from sessile oak trees (Quercus petraea) in having acorns on stalks.

Acorns from small to large of the Willow Oak, By David Hill - Wikipedia Commons

Lord Collingwood, Horatio Nelson's second in command at the Battle of Trafalgar, would carry a pocket full of acorns on walks in the countryside. He planted them as he went so the British "Navy would never want for oaks to build the fighting ships upon which the country's safety depended."

Due to the short supply of coffee during the American Civil War, troops were forced to come up with imaginative alternatives. Ground up acorns was among the substitutes for coffee.

Acorns as an important part of many birds and animals' diets.  However, heavy consumption of acorns can be toxic to other animals, such as horses and cattle.

Acorns can cause painful death in equines, especially if eaten to excess. By Jim Champion,  Wikipedia Commons

Acorns may constitute up to 25% of the diet of deer in the autumn.

Acorns contain large amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats, as well as the minerals calcium, phosphorus and potassium, and the vitamin niacin.

More than 50 million acorns would fit in the acorn Scrat from the Ice Age movies is chasing during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

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