# Calling tree nerds - what the hell is this leaf/seed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 29, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-tree-nerds-what-the-hell-is-this-leaf-seed/702819 "2014-10-29T02:37:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-tree-nerds-what-the-hell-is-this-leaf-seed/702819/1 "2014-10-29T02:37:43Z")
I swear these things are absolutely everywhere in my yard and driveway and it makes it so hard to walk about barefoot without getting stuck a little. However, I have no idea what kind of tree it comes from and can’t find any good info. Anyone wanna help? Photos: [Seed - Album on Imgur](http://imgur.com/a/h0Nb8) ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-tree-nerds-what-the-hell-is-this-leaf-seed/702819/2 "2014-10-29T02:39:32Z")
What climate zone do you live in? ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-tree-nerds-what-the-hell-is-this-leaf-seed/702819/3 "2014-10-29T02:44:44Z")
Looks to me like a pine tree seed, from out of a pinecone. The ‘wing’ is all papery, with little veins like a leaf, and the seed at the end has a little keel on one side like a boat, right? Google image search pine cone seed and you should see some that look close. All the different pine tree variants have slightly different seed shapes, especially in the wing part, but they’re all pretty close. They live all tucked up into the pinecones until this time of year, and they shake free and become squirrel or bird food for a month or so. ---
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-tree-nerds-what-the-hell-is-this-leaf-seed/702819/4 "2014-10-29T02:45:02Z")
Central North Carolina. So 10-20 degree area? I hope that’s what you’re asking for. ---
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-tree-nerds-what-the-hell-is-this-leaf-seed/702819/5 "2014-10-29T02:47:52Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > Looks to me like a pine tree seed, from out of a pinecone. The ‘wing’ is all papery, with little veins like a leaf, and the seed at the end has a little keel on one side like a boat, right? > > Google image search pine cone seed and you should see some that look close. All the different pine tree variants have slightly different seed shapes, especially in the wing part, but they’re all pretty close. They live all tucked up into the pinecones until this time of year, and they shake free and become squirrel or bird food for a month or so. That’s what a friend was telling me but the google image search wasn’t too fruitful ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-tree-nerds-what-the-hell-is-this-leaf-seed/702819/6 "2014-10-29T02:48:27Z")
My first guess is that it’s some kind of [samara](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samara_%28fruit%29), which is a type of fruit (in the botanical sense). Many tree species produce them. Compare the photo of the [tropical ash](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Starr_040601-0006_Fraxinus_uhdei.jpg) samara. Do you know what species of trees are in the vicinity? ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-tree-nerds-what-the-hell-is-this-leaf-seed/702819/7 "2014-10-29T03:13:14Z")
> [@Oedipus](#): > > Central North Carolina. So 10-20 degree area? I hope that’s what you’re asking for. Do they spin if you drop them? You might enjoy this thread > **[What do you call these things?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=562091)** > > Samaras, seeds from a sycamore maple tree. Colloquially, they’re known as spinning jennies back home, but from what I gather, this is very localized. What do you call them? ---
**Author:** ![Fishtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ed655f/32.png) [@Fishtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fishtar)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-tree-nerds-what-the-hell-is-this-leaf-seed/702819/8 "2014-10-29T03:24:31Z")
Seed from a pond pine (Pinus serotina)? > **[Pinus serotina](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_serotina)** > > Pinus serotina, the pond pine, marsh pine or pocosin pine, is a pine tree found along the Southeastern portion of the Atlantic coastal plain of the United States, from southern New Jersey south to Florida and west to southern Alabama. This pine often has a crooked growth pattern and an irregular top and grows up to 21 metres (69 ft) high, rarely to 29 metres (95 ft). > The needles are in bundles of three or four, and 15–20 cm (6–8 in) long. The almost round cones are .mw-parser-output .frac{whit... Any fires or people burning recently? ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-tree-nerds-what-the-hell-is-this-leaf-seed/702819/9 "2014-10-29T04:48:15Z")
[Tulip Poplar](http://www.google.com/search?q=tulip+poplar+seed&num=100&newwindow=1&sa=X&biw=1024&bih=605&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=NXBQVOSVLdLjyASr3IKQBg&ved=0CB8QsAQ). CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-tree-nerds-what-the-hell-is-this-leaf-seed/702819/10 "2014-10-29T05:02:57Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > [Tulip Poplar](http://www.google.com/search?q=tulip+poplar+seed&num=100&newwindow=1&sa=X&biw=1024&bih=605&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=NXBQVOSVLdLjyASr3IKQBg&ved=0CB8QsAQ). > > CMC fnord! I think we have a winner. AKA Tulip Tree or Yellow Poplar. It has one of my favorite and most musical scientific names, _Liriodendron tulipifera._ I was having trouble identifying it because, unlike most samaras, the seed is at right angles to the wing. [This photo](http://stillblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Tulip-Tree-seed-cluster.jpg) shows this rather unique structure. Pine isn’t a bad guess, but unlike the seed in the photo pines and other conifers have the [seed in the same plane as the wing.](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WZqWBLP_lV8/Tz1nmeTemXI/AAAAAAAADoc/4nrrOczhpJw/s1600/red-pine-seeds.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-tree-nerds-what-the-hell-is-this-leaf-seed/702819/11 "2014-10-29T12:51:35Z")
_“In youth, the tulip-tree, or Liriodendron Tulipferum, the most magnificent of American foresters, has a trunk peculiarly smooth, and often rises to a great height without lateral branches; but, in its riper age, the bark becomes gnarled and uneven, while many short limbs make their appearance on the stem. Thus the difficulty of ascension, in the present case, lay more in semblance than in reality. Embracing the huge cylinder, as closely as possible, with his arms and knees, seizing with his hands some projections, and resting his naked toes upon others, Jupiter, after one or two narrow escapes from falling, at length wriggled himself into the first great fork, and seemed to consider the whole business as virtually accomplished. The risk of the achievement was, in fact, now over, although the climber was some sixty or seventy feet from the ground.”_ - Edgar Allan Poe, The Gold-Bug