Quiz: Do you know how acorns sprout?

You know, we delightfully gather acorns during our stroll in autumn forest. Then, now in every spring, not many people bother about them, don’t we? Then, a question: do you know how acorns sprout? Many people draw a picture like this:

Weeeeeeeeeeell, the truth is like this:

They first sprout a root from the pointy end. While the new root tries to take a hold in the ground, the fatty meat of a nut works as baby milk for a seedling. At the end of the growing root in a nut, a small cotyledon is growing, which will eventually become the seed leaves. While the baby leaves are developing, the meat turns red in order to protect the toddler from ultraviolet light from spring sunshine. So, in early spring we can find successful acorns on ground like this.

Otherwise, the acorn-acorns in spring forests are dead. It’s the beginning of a race of “survival of the fittest” for babies to be a giant oak. Good luck!