A Book of the Seasons: The Shrub Oak

I love the shrub oak,

its scanty garment of leaves

whispering to me.

December 1, 1856

The shrub oak, lowly, loving the earth and spreading over it, tough, thick-leaved; leaves firm and sound in winter and rustling like leather shields; leaves fair and wholesome to the eye, clean and smooth to the touch.  December 1. 1856

August 28, 1853 ("The acorns show now on the shrub oaks.")

September 13, 1859 ("I see some shrub oak acorns turned dark on the bushes and showing their meridian lines, but generally acorns of all kinds are green yet. ")

September 21, 1859 ("Acorns have been falling very sparingly ever since September 1, but are mostly wormy. They are as interesting now on the shrub oak (green) as ever.")

September 25, 1854 ("On the shrub oak plain, as seen from Cliffs, the red at least balances the green. It looks like a rich, shaggy rug now, before the woods are changed.")

September 28, 1858 ("The small shrub oak . . . with its pretty acorns striped dark and light alternately.");

September 30, 1859 ("Most shrub oak acorns browned.")

October 1, 1859 ("The shrub oaks on this hill are now at their height, both with respect to their tints and their fruit. The . . .pretty fruit, varying in size, pointedness, and downiness, being now generally turned brown, with light, converging meridional lines. . . .Now is the time for shrub oak acorns.")
October 2, 1851 ("The shrub oaks on the terraced plain are now almost uniformly of a deep red")
October 7, 1857 ("Some shrub oaks are yellow, others reddish.")
October 9, 1851 ("The hills and plain on the opposite side of the river are covered with deep warm red leaves of shrub oaks.")
October 13, 1852 ("The shrub oak plain is now a deep red,")
October 14, 1859 ("The shrub oak acorns are now all fallen, — only one or two left on,")
October 22, 1858 ("I see, from the Cliffs, that color has run through the shrub oak plain like a fire or a wave, not omitting a single tree")

November 2, 1853 ("The shrub oak cups which I notice to-day have lost their acorns.")

November 16, 1850 ("It is singular that the shrub oaks retain their leaves through the winter. Why do they? ")

November 21, 1850 ("Seeing the sun falling . . .in an angle where this forest meets a hill covered with shrub oaks, affects me singularly, reinspiring me with all the dreams of my youth. It is a place far away, yet actual and where I have been. It is like looking into dreamland. It is one of the avenues to my future.”)

November 25, 1858 ("Most shrub oaks there have lost their leaves (Quercus ilicifolia), which, very fair and perfect, cover the ground. ")

November 29, 1857 ("Again I am struck by the singularly wholesome colors of the withered oak leaves, especially the shrub oak, so thick and firm and unworn, without speck or fret, clear reddish-brown (sometimes paler or yellowish brown), its whitish under sides contrasting with it in a very cheerful manner. So strong and cheerful, as if it rejoiced at the advent of winter, and exclaimed, “Winter, come on!”")

December 4, 1850 ("The shrub oak fire burns briskly as seen from the Cliffs")

December 7, 1857 ("It is a fair, sunny, and warm day in the woods for the season. We eat our dinners . . .amid the young oaks in a sheltered and very unfrequented place. I cut some leafy shrub oaks and cast them down for a dry and springy seat. ")

January 7, 1857 ("I should not be ashamed to have a shrub oak for my coat-of-arms.")
January 30, 1853 (''The shrub oak leaf is the firmest and best preserved")

January 30, 1853 (" What I have called the Shrub Oak Plain contains comparatively few shrub oaks, — rather, young red and white and, it may be, some scarlet (?).")

 A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau,  The Shrub Oak.

A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau

 "A book, each page written in its own season,

out-of-doors, in its own locality."

 ~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx ©  2009-2023