New US Postage Stamp Features an Oak

A new stamp issued by the United States Post Office in August 2023 depicts an oak, though not in a form that most quercophiles would recognize.

Readers of this blog may recall the image as the photo that won first place in the 2021 Small World Photomicrography Competition sponsored by Nikon (read about it here). The stamp is part of a series entitled "Life Magnified" which "explores life on Earth, as few have ever seen it." The images used were taken using microscopes and highly specialized photographic techniques to capture details undetectable by the human eye. The one that interests us is titled "Oak Leaf Surface" and was taken by Jason Kirk. It shows trichomes (white appendages) and stomata (purple pores) on the surface of the leaf of a southern live oak (Quercus virginiana). The stamp is what in the United States is termed a "forever stamp", which can be used to mail letters indefinitely in the future, no matter the current postage rate or when it was bought. Ties in nicely with oaks' longevity.

Another blog entry merits a cross reference: the stamp has been added to the list of Oaks on Postage Stamps, which now includes 104 stamps that feature an oak tree, leaf, or acorn. Other new additions include a stamp issued by Taiwan apparently showing a bonsai oak of indeterminate species, and a Polish stamp that uses the section of the tree trunk of an oak to commemorate 455 years of Polish Post.

I'd like to thank my colleague Wei Wang for alerting me about these stamps.