The caps of bur oak acorns are very cute, looking a bit like a hat with a fuzzy brim. Like the other two species of white oak that grow here, the leaves on an individual tree will offer a wide array of shapes, but will always have rounded lobes, and in bur oak the lobe at the tip of the leaf is often much larger than the lower lobes. The acorns are the surest way to tell the different species apart. The bark of bur oak is also very distinctive, with corky ridges projecting along the older twigs.