Plant · P-041

Bur Oak

Quercus macrocarpa

Bur oak is a white oak whose acorns are among the largest and sweetest of any oak - some trees bear seed mild enough to eat raw, others need the tannins leached out before the meal goes into bread. It grows into a broad shade canopy and yields tough durable hardwood sold as white oak, and its thick corky bark lets mature trees shrug off grass fires that kill more delicate species outright. It takes thirty years or more to begin bearing and can live close to a thousand years, so it rewards patience more than any quick harvest. Acorns feed squirrels, deer and game birds, and a taproot that drives more than a metre down in the first season lets seedlings outlast drought that kills shallower-rooted trees.