How oak flowers look like

Oak has always been considered a symbol of strength, power, individuality. He prefers the places open to the sun. If neighboring trees do not interfere with it , the oak grows into a giant with a broad sprawling crown, sometimes reaching a height of more than 50 m. When it comes to how the oak blossoms, it turns out that very few people know what the oak flower looks like, and many people do not even Suspect that the oak blossoms.

There are at least 600 kinds of oaks. In our region, the most common is the oak tree, which has a beautiful spherical crown. Oak is a long-standing record-holder among the trees, oaks are known that have an age of more than a thousand years.

If the tree grows loose, oak flowers appear when it reaches the age of twenty, in dense plantations - about fifty years. In the spring, the oak does not rush to let out foliage, usually it occurs only towards the end of April.

At the same time, leaves are blossoming and oak flowers appear. Often people simply do not notice them, because in the view of many flowers should be precisely flowers - large and beautiful. And in the oak they are barely noticeable and, one might even say, unattractive.

Male (stamen) oak flowers are more noticeable. They have a yellowish-green coloration, very small and collected in inflorescences, resembling thin earrings. They hang down in a bunch of beams. Among the leaves they are difficult to notice, in color they blend with the young foliage.

Female (pistil) oak flowers are even harder to see. In size, they are with a pinhead, located on a special thin stems one by one or several pieces. These stems are then formed acorns.

When the male flowers of oak will open, their pollen is viable for about 5 days. In favorable weather (sunny and windy), pollination occurs safely, in rainy weather it stops, and during frosts, inflorescences may fall off altogether. Good yields of acorns oak gives once in 7-8 years.

Acorns simply adore forest boars. People use them to feed animals, make acacia from acorns. They are also harvested for sowing to restore oak groves. The young bark of oak is used in pharmacology, it has tannins, has astringent properties. Oak forests have been cut down for many years in order to obtain very valuable timber.

Wood is used wherever hardness, strength, and resistance to external influences are needed - in transport, in shipbuilding, in construction. Oak floors, parquet, laminate, furniture are widely used. They are durable, reliable, environmentally friendly, and have good energy.

Natural color under the oak has a pleasant golden hue, with dark and light areas of wood, and shades with a greenish or reddish tone. Oak can be processed and allows to obtain different colors, from white to almost black wood, where golden, brown, gray shades predominate.

Especially popular is bleached oak. Such a color in nature is the wood of only young trees, but over time it darkens. For the production of bleached oak, the natural wood is discolored and tinted in the desired color, then varnished or coated with wax.