The oak is the mightiest of trees and symbolizes strength and courage.

The ancient Romans thought oak trees attracted lightening and thereby connected the oak tree to the sky god, Jupiter and his wife, Juno, the goddess of marriage. Thus, the oak is a symbol of conjugal fidelity and fulfillment. The oak tree was regarded by Socrates as an oracle tree. The Druids likewise ate acorns in preparation for prophesying. In addition, the Druids believed the leaves of the oak tree had the power to heal and renew strength. Oak trees (above) grow in hardiness zones 5-9. Photo courtesy of Philip Halling, Wikimedia Commons. Sprigs, branches, leaves, acorns as well as whole trees of oak are fairly common symbols in heraldry. Oak is an emblem of virtue, strength, resiliency, longevity, and re-birth. In Norse mythology, the oak is associated with the thunder gods. The ancient Greeks and Romans revered the oak. Abraham's Oak, the Oak of Mamre, is thought to be on the spot where the bible states Abraham pitched his tent; thus the oak became a symbol of Christian worship. In the British Isles, the ancient Druids considered oak to have both medicinal and mystical significance. According to legend King Arthur's table was made from one gigantic slice of a very ancient oak tree. For centuries, an oak sprig was inscribed on English and German coins. A painter's eye will often be arrested where ordinary people see nothing remarkable. A casual gleam of sunshine, or a shadow thrown across his path, a time-withered oak, or a moss-covered stone may awaken a train of thoughts and feelings, and picturesque imaginings - The Pencil of Nature, vol. 2, plate vi caption. Facsimile reproduction printed by Hans P. Kraus with introduction by Larry J. Schaaf (New York, 1984). William Henry Fox Talbot's image of a graceful and heroic oak tree, one of the first images to be fixed with a "hypo" solution, represents a pivotal development in the history of photography. In 1839 Talbot made public his process for fixing images on paper treated with silver chloride. He fixed his original images, however, with a salt that did not actually remove the silver chloride, leaving the image unstable and still sensitive to light. In 1841, the year this picture was taken, he began printing more stable images by using a fixing agent called "hypo," which thoroughly removed the silver chloride. Although the fuzziness of Talbot's first prints made his images in some ways less pleasing than the exactness of a daguerreotype, the process did allow multiple positive images to be created from a single negative. In this regard, Talbot's discoveries represent the origin of modern photography.