Or, Why oak trees hold their leaves all winter?
There is a little oak tree on the route of my daily dog walk, and Jack and I often remark about how pretty it is— the way it holds its leaves through the winter. I like it so much I drew a picture of it. (Not a realistic drawing, but my impression of the tree, because it poses out in the cold and I often draw late at night in my nice, warm house.)
I started wondering why oak trees hold onto their leaves through the winter. I learned two things:
- Holding one’s withered leaves through the winter is called marcescence. I recommend you use this in general conversation over the Christmas holiday, to impress your in-laws who have never appreciated the depth of your wisdom and knowledge and general value in the whole scheme of things.
- Nobody knows why some trees, including oaks, keep their leaves over winter.
The reason oak trees keep their leaves over winter…
I will tell you why I believe oak trees keep their leaves. You see, when God was inventing trees on the third day, He was feeling all creative. I imagine him saying,
“Okay, so that is a tree, with thin, needle-like leaves, bark and photosynthesis and all that.
Nice.
Wait, I’m going to make another kind of tree with big, flat leaves.
Yeah!
Dude, I’m going to make all kinds of different flat leaf shapes.
YEAH!
Wait, Wait! I will make the flat leaves turn all kinds of beautiful colors in autumn.
Yeah.
Then they’ll all fall off so Ed can rake them off his brown lawn.
Done.
No, wait! I’m going to make, um oak trees, hold onto their leaves through the winter. Oh man, this is going to freak people out. They are going to fall all over each other trying to figure out why oak trees do it. I can’t wait to see what sort of explanations they will come up with.
Bang!
That’s an oak tree”
The preceding is not Biblical, but I am pretty sure it is true.
Thank you, little oak tree, for being different, and thank you, God, for making things down here so weird and wonderful.