Trees, Fruit, and Nuts?
Cherries hang on cherry trees. Apples grow on apple trees. You get pears from pear trees. I can't think of a fruit that isn't the same name as the tree it comes from. The same with nut trees. Walnuts grow on walnut trees. Pecans grow on pecan trees. Almonds on almond trees. Hickory nuts on hickory trees. But----- but oak trees have acorns. Why is that? Why don't oak trees have oaks. Now that sounds weird. Or maybe it would be better if acorns grew on acorn trees.
Even worse ----- any fruit or nut that is commonly eaten can be eaten raw. (or cooked) But ---- again, but acorns have to go through a long drawn out process of leaching the tannin out of the acorn before people can eat either the acorn or, more commonly, the flour that is made out of ground acorns. We have several large oak trees in our yard but I am not about to take on the job of making flour out of acorns.
And don't expect to plant an oak tree and have acorns in a couple of years like you would with an apple tree. It usually takes about 20 years before there are acorns on a young tree. A lot of times they don't do much until about 50 years of age. That is why we should never cut an oak tree unless it is really needed. I am guessing that the huge oak tree in our front yard is about 200 years old. It produces lots of acorns to feed the birds, squirrels, and deer.
Acorns are poison to dogs, horses, cattle, sheep and goats, too. But deer eat them. As do squirrels and other rodents and many kinds of birds.
Interesting what you can learn when you think of something and then look it up on the internet.
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