New Oak

This beautifully dangling inflorescence is a shrub oak (Quercus ilicifolia), which I think would make the most amazingly delicate and elegant earrings, made in silver of course!

This shrub is also known as bear oak, as it seems that only bears will eat its bitter acorns.

Its leaves are pretty oak-y, it grows to the height of a shrub, not a tree, usually in disturbed sites. This one was growing along the road edge.