Book 4, Question 20
Why Do Acorns Become Oaks?
An acorn is an oak baby, packed with lunch. If it lands in damp soil and does not get eaten, that lunch fuels a root, then a shoot, then a tree. That is how a mighty oak begins!
From the book
Page from A Million Whys Book 4
More fun facts
- An acorn is an oak tree's seed.
- Oak trees make about the same number of flowers each spring. The acorn crop depends on how many grow into ripe acorns.
- Warm, dry spring weather helps oak flowers get pollinated, which leads to more acorns.
- Oaks go through boom and bust years. After a huge acorn year, trees have less energy left and make fewer acorns.
- Fewer acorns over many years could mean fewer new oak trees.
- Native peoples in America ground the acorns of live oaks into meal.
Sources: BBC, BBC, Smithsonian Magazine
Questions kids ask
Why are there so many acorns some years?
Oaks have boom years. Warm, dry springs help more flowers turn into acorns.