### plant part | fruit:

Acorn
* All acorns contain tannic acid or tannin
  - tannin - a substance once used to tan hides
* Many acorns are consumed by insects, squirrels, small rodents, deer, and turkey and other birds.
* Most acorns become oak trees
  - come from trees
* Most acorns develop into oak trees
  - end up as meals for squirrels rather than new oak trees
* Some acorns develop leaves
  - emerge in summer
* also contain bitter tannin s, the amount varying with the species
  - make wonderful breads, foodstuffs, and staples
* are a critical food source for Ozark black bears.
* are a preferred food of wild turkey
  - wood ducks
  - source for feral swine in the fall
* are a rich food and extremely important for the survival of many species of wildlife
  - source of fat, protein and starch
  - abundant and provide food for wildlife
* are also edible to humans, after leaching of the tannins
  - rich in nutrients
  - sometimes prepared as a massage oil
  - an excellent source of energy, protein, carbohydrate, and calcium
* are an important food for deer, squirrel, turkey, wood ducks, blue jays, etc
  - source of food for wildlife
  - attractive to animals because they are large and thus efficiently consumed or cached
  - dispersed by squirrels who gather the nuts
  - edible, but often contain large quantities of bitter substances
  - important food for wildlife
  - large, with bristly cups
* are located in forests
  - ground
  - roofs
  - nearly hemispherical in shape and are enclosed at the base in a shallow cup
  - oaks
  - of value beyond being food sources
* are one of the most important wildlife foods in areas where oaks grow
  - wildlife foods in areas where oaks occur
  - part of oak
  - resistant to insects and disease
  - seeds
  - still a cause of serious poisoning in livestock
* are the fruit that falls from oak trees
  - major food source of white-footed mice during winter and are extensively cached
* are the most important fall and winter food for the fox squirrel
  - food for wild turkeys
  - seeds of oak trees
  - too heavy for wind dispersal , and so require other ways to spread
  - used for making flour or roasted for acorn coffee
  - very hard food, and turkeys have no teeth
  - trees and trees become acorns
* buried beneath the soil's surface also withstand a fire and sprout.
* can be abundant in some years.
* come from oak trees
  - white oak trees
* disappear typically in late summer.
* fall from the oaks and are quickly cached by squirrels and their kin
  - trees that grow in their neighborhood, and that means fall is coming
  - to the forest floor and grow to mighty oaks
* float in water and mature in one season.
* germinate in the fall after dropping.
* have seeds
  - sweet kernals
* includes acorn cups
  - sections
* make up a large portion of a gray squirrel s diet.
* mature and fall early
  - in two years
* pagan homeschool newsletter.
* produce excessive root growth before establishing top growth.
* produced by different species of oak trees are in fact quite different
  - oaks provide a reliable, abundant food source
* provide a seasonal food for wild turkeys, squirrels and small rodents
  - source of winter fat
  - food for wildlife and are used to fatten swine and poultry
* require two years to mature.
* sprout like other seeds, if they are still viable.
* start out as a few cells at the tip of the branch.
* take two growing seasons to mature.
* usually grow at the end of a short stalk.
+ Acorn, Nutrition: Nuts
  * Acorns are one of the most important wildlife foods in areas where oaks grow. Creatures that make acorns an important part of their diet include birds, such as jays, pigeons, some ducks and several species of woodpeckers. Small mammals that feed on acorns include mice, squirrels and several other rodents. However, acorns are toxic to some other animals, such as horses.