What kind of tree is this?
Asked by
asmonet (
21455
)
November 10th, 2008
I don’t have a picture but I remember having one in my yard as a kid, it was big like an oak tree and have very small tic tac sized leaves with black seed pod things that looked like castanets and rattled when they dried up. I’ve only ever seen them in Florida. Any ideas?
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26 Answers
That’s a damn good find, skabeep. But I had no luck. Sadly, I’m working off a 15 year old memory. :’(
Some type of acacia? Maybe
Wow. I am a tree farmer in FL and have no idea and I grow hundreds of types where I work.
Damn! I’ve only ever really seen two of them, one at my house and one in the middle of St. Pete. Maybe it isn’t native…
Could it be a Black Locust ?
We had one like this, but I don’t remember the leaves being as small as tic-tacs but we got the black pods…
Nah, but that seems closer, the leaves were itty bitty and curled up tight when they dried. :’( I wish I could find a tree expert.
It may be some type of birch or an elm. Their leaves shrivel up really small when they fall off.
I don’t think so… I would think the seed things are the biggest clue actually, they were like hard giant lima bean shapes, with a dull shine. when you cracked them open they were kind of fibrous inside?
@asmonet, It sounds a little like a Kentucky Coffeetree, but I don’t think the pod is as you described.
I will keep looking
Did it have blue flowers in the spring? Jacaranda tree has a castanet shaped pod.
No flowers, not a single flower I can remember. And greyish brown bark. :’(
Damn it, lemme just draw it. I’ll post pictures once I scan it in…gimme like 20 mins. Haha, probably should have done that first.
I was going to say mimosa, too but certainly she would have remembered its flowers.
Yeah, but the flowers last for such a short time that it is easy to miss them.
Yeah, I googled mimosa, not it, but getting close, those are really similar leaves, just a bit jumbo sized, and the tree trunk and branches were thicker. And instead of bean pod like seeds they were fat and rounded. Unless I missed them for four straight years…either that or I just forgot. I doubt that though.
Here’s the quick doodle. of the seed pod and the basic leaf structure.
@alfreda: Nope someone already guessed that.
Good luck. I’m going to bed but I will probably be up all night wondering what tree this is.
You know what’s bad about this? I can see this damn tree in Google Earh, and it’s pissing me off.
can you send us a pic of the tree from google earth? i have an aunt in florida, maybe she’ll know.
Nah, it’s just a green blob. :-/
Do either of your parents know what kind of tree it is?
Nah, sorry I checked with my mother, she has no idea. I might just have to deal with never knowing. :’’’(
I’m still working on this asmonet, I just haven’t been able to get to my sources—neighbor who is a landscape architect and cemetery that is an arborium—in the middle of the week.
The castanet shaped pod is triggering a memory for me, and every tree project we’ve ever done has come out of the cemetery, which has labeled trees (including a 350 year old ginkgo that changed sexes several years ago.)
Oh cool! Def let me know. :)
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