British oak galls / by Edward T. Connold.

  • Edward Thomas Connold
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: British oak galls / by Edward T. Connold. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tions in most botanical works will assist a beginner to understand the various parts of the fruit. Acorns intended for planting should be left out of doors during the winter. If they have been kept indoors they should be soaked for several days in water. A large flower-pot nearly full of earth having been prepared, six or eight acorns may be arranged on the earth and a little loose earth sprinkled over them. If this is done in March or April, healthy little plants will be developed by July. The familiar acorn-glass affords a pleasant way in which the growth of the root and its' fibres can be watched. The two divisions of the inner part of an acorn are the cotyledons, which contain reserve materials for the maintenance of the young plant. When they absorb water the pericarp (or outer skin) bursts at the pointed end, and the radicle pushes its way out, bends downwards, and penetrates verti- cally into the ground, becomes the root* and sends out on all sides root-fibres which pick up nourishment from the soil. Meanwhile the plumule has appeared from the same opening; rising slowly and pointing upwards, it becomes the stem of the future tree. It grows from the part known as the liypocotyl, and elongates into a slender stem upon which at first scale- leaves appear. When it has attained about three inches delicate-lobed foliage-leaves unfold. For some time the plumule and the radicle draw their nourishment from the cotyledons, which rapidly dissolve in order to supply the demand. When wholly exhausted the coty- ledons disintegrate and fall away from the liypocotyl. At the end of the first year the primary root will have attained a length of about fifteen inches, and the young stem be about six inches high. If it is desired to keep the little trees, they should be removed from the pot and each replanted in a separate pot or put in open ground. A most interest- ing study may be enjoyed if one or two acorns each of Q. pedunculata, Q. sessiliflora, Q. cerris, and Q. Ilex be
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