a little variety

A randon collection of oak leaves near my house and one from Denver Botanic Gardens.

Denver may have been a treeless plain but 150 years of planting tree has created an urban forest of surprising diversity if one looks around a bit.

left to right
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus bicolor (Swamp white oak)
Quercus robur (English oak)
Quercus acutissima (sawtooth oak)
Quercus imbricaria (single oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus texana (buckleyi) (Texas red oak) from the Botanic gardens
Quercus shumardii? (shumard oak) not positive on this id.

I had to use a trick from the herbarium to make them lie flat as they had dried in various crumpled ways on the tree. Immersed in boiling water for a few mins made them pliable and brought back a tad bit of colors. It made the kitchen smell of autumn, refreshing on a cold snow Jan day. Hard to believe it was 70 degrees on Thursday.