The American sweet gum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua, USDA plant hardiness zones 5-9) is just one spiky nut tree you might find in the neighborhood. Other trees that drop spiny balls are the sycamore (Platanus occidentalis, zones 4-9) and the horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum, zones 4-7). Sweet Gum Balls
What kind of tree has green balls on its leaves?
What Type of Tree Has Green Balls? 1 Osage Orange Trees. The Osage orange (Maclura pomifera), hardy in U.S. ... 2 Walnut Trees. Both English (Juglans regia) and black walnuts (Juglans nigra), hardy in USDA zones 5 through 9, produce heavy green round-to-oval fruits. 3 London Plane and American Sycamore Trees. ... 4 Chestnut Trees. ...
What are the spiny balls under trees?
Trees With Spiked Seed Pods If you've encountered some round, spiny balls under a tree or maybe still on the plant, and you're wondering what it could be, it's likely one of several options: buckeye/horsechestnut (Aesculus), chestnut (Castanea), or sweet gum (Liquidambar styraciflua).
What are the different types of fruit shaped like a ball?
These ball-shaped fruits are about 1 inch across and break apart when mature, dispersing silky seeds. Both English (Juglans regia) and black walnuts (Juglans nigra), hardy in USDA zones 5 through 9, produce heavy green round-to-oval fruits. Chestnuts are large trees that are used ornamentally or for food production.
What is a chestnut tree?
Chestnuts are large trees that are used ornamentally or for food production. Each produces spiky green fruits that crack open to reveal shiny nuts about 2 inches across.
What are the big balls that fall from trees?
In our neck of the woods, they are commonly called “monkey balls,” but in other regions, this peculiar fruit and the trees from which they fall are known as hedge apples. The tree's official name is Osage orange.
What kind of tree has fuzzy balls?
The American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) is a fast-growing deciduous tree hardy to U.S. Department of Agriculture zones 4 through 9. This tree is also known as the American planetree or the buttonball tree, due to the brown, spiky seed balls it produces each year.
What trees have gumballs?
Sweetgum trees are known for their balls, also called gumballs, sweetgum fruits, or capsules. The spiky gumballs hang in clusters.
What is the seed of the sycamore tree called?
samaraSycamore seeds, the samara or keys, are formed from a symmetrical cluster of yellowish-green flowers that attract bluebottles for pollination. The female flowers have two fused carpels, which mature into a pair of winged fruits set at acute angles.
What are the round fuzzy balls falling from oak trees?
ANSWER: The fuzzy balls are galls formed by the tree leaf in response to the feeding of the larvae hatched from an egg deposited by a tiny gall wasp in the Family Cynipidae, Genus Andricus. Here are photos of Andricus quercusflocci galls that form on leaves of Quercus alba (white oak) and Quercus prinus (chestnut oak).
What are the little balls that fall from oak trees?
Almost everyone who lives near oak trees has seen the small balls hanging in the tree branches, yet many still may ask: “What are oak galls?” Oak apple galls look like small, round fruit but they are actually plant deformities caused by oak apple gall wasps. The galls generally do not damage the oak tree host.
How do you identify a gumball tree?
You can identify the American sweetgum by its star-shaped leaves and hard, spiky, spherical fruits. This specific American sweetgum grows along Prospect Street, just above the Marsh Botanical Gardens and across from the Farnam Memorial Gardens.
What are sycamore balls?
They are spiked balls that are produced by Sycamore trees and contain the seeds that can be used to start new trees. They are produced in the winter and can be found all over the ground around the trees in the spring. One of the most popular uses for these balls is making ornaments for the holidays.
Can you eat sweet gum tree balls?
Are sweetgum tree balls edible? While they're not edible, the balls can double as spiky mulch to keep animals away from young plants. You can even get creative and use them to make holiday trinkets or decorative balls for bowls.
What does sycamore seed look like?
The seed balls can be seen hanging on trees by November but the seed doesn't mature and drop until late winter and spring. A similar look-alike seed ball–Sweet gum– has a similar size seed ball, but a much rougher exterior texture. Sycamore seed, cleaned of all their fluffy hairs are shaped like railroad spikes.
What tree has the helicopter seeds?
maple treesMore commonly referred to as “helicopters,” “whirlers,” “twisters” or “whirligigs,” samaras are the winged seeds produced by maple trees. All maples produce samaras, but red, silver and Norway maples often produce the largest quantities.
What is a sycamore tree look like?
Sycamore trees have large, light-green leaves that resemble maple leaves in shape. They are alternate, simple and palmate with coarse teeth. The undersides of new leaves are coated with coarse, white hair. In the fall, sycamore leaves turn yellow or brown.
Why don't walnut trees grow?
Other plants don't grow well under walnuts due to chemicals emitted by the roots and litter.
Why are some trees not friendly?
It isn't a friendly tree, because it not only produces thorns but female trees bear heavy, 3- to 5-inch-wide fruits that litter landscapes and are difficult to clean up.
Why isn't my thorn tree friendly?
It isn't a friendly tree, because it not only produces thorns but female trees bear heavy, 3- to 5-inch-wide fruits that litter landscapes and are difficult to clean up. The milky sap can sometimes cause allergic reactions on the skin.
Is walnut a landscape tree?
Most people don't choose walnuts as a landscape tree, but they are occasionally found as remnants of orchards or as chance seedlings that grew untended. Although walnuts are very large trees ...
Is a chestnut tree edible?
However similar they may seem, the fruit from the horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), hardy in USDA zones 3 through 8, is not edible, while the edible chestnut ...
