Quercus macrocarpa (Burr acorn)

At a studio where I occasionally shoot I came across the most peculiar acorn I had ever seen. It was lying on the ground quite far from any trees and I could not identify where it had come from. I searched all the trees in the vicinity, but the area was very sloped and I could not work out what tree it could have come from as nothing looked particularly like an Oak tree that I could see.

The acorn was unfortunately quite squashed and so I could not photograph it, I needed to find the source. After several visits I finally worked out which tree was producing these fantastic seeds. I found an acorn which had fallen into some bushes below and so was in a very good condition with all its parts present and whole.

This was just about the easiest capture I have done in this series as the magnificent subject has done all the hard work for me. Now my current challenge is identifying exactly which type of Oak and acorn this is. Having revisited the tree to inspect it closer, i am more confused than ever.