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What tree dropped this? Spiky balls, helicopters, long pods, nuts and cones, and which of them you can plant
Which eastern trees drop spiky balls, helicopters, long seed pods, nuts and cones, how to tell the look-alikes apart, and which seeds to gather, float and sow.
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A key to what fell, by shapeSpiky balls: sweetgum, chestnut or sycamoreHelicopters: spring maples and fall maplesLong pods: honey locust, catalpa or coffeetreeWhich seeds are worth plantingWhat to do with what you foundCommon questionsSourcesA hard, spiky brown ball 1 to 1½ inches across is a sweetgum fruit, and a bur of very sharp spines is a chestnut. Helicopters are paired maple seeds, while ash and elm seeds have one wing. A flat, twisted pod up to 18 inches long is honey locust, a thin bean up to 2 feet is catalpa, and a thick, woody pod is Kentucky coffeetree. Acorns, nuts and buckeyes grow if sown fresh. Much winged seed needs a winter’s cold first, and most pod seed a broken coat.
A key to what fell, by shape
Each table runs in the order the fruit falls.
Balls and burs
We do not grow sweetgum, sycamore or Osage orange.
| Tree | Sign | Falls | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio buckeye | Prickly husk; glossy seed with a pale eye | September and October | Sow fresh in fall; poisonous |
| American chestnut, Chinese chestnut | Bur 2 to 3 inches, very sharp spines | September and October | Never let dry; sow in fall |
| Osage orange | Wrinkled green ball 4 to 5 inches | September and October | Sow seed from rotted fruit |
| Black walnut | Round green husk up to 2 inches | After leaf fall | Husk it, sow in fall |
| Sweetgum | Hard, spiky ball 1 to 1½ inches | December to April | Often empty by winter |
| Sycamore | Dry ball 1 to 1½ inches on a long stalk | Winter into spring | Grows untreated |
Wings
We do not grow red, silver or sugar maple, white ash, American elm or tulip poplar.
| Tree | Sign | Falls | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red and silver maple | Paired wings ½ to 2½ inches | April to June | Sow at once |
| American elm, winged elm, cedar elm | Flat papery wafer ⅓ to ½ inch | Spring, cedar elm in fall | Sow as it falls |
| Hop hornbeam, American hornbeam | Papery hop-like sacs; nutlets on three-lobed bracts | Late August to October | Pick green, sow in fall |
| American basswood | Nutlets hung from a strap-shaped bract | September and October | Sow in fall; slow to sprout |
| Sugar maple, black maple | Paired wings about an inch | Late September to December | Sow in fall |
| White ash, blue ash | Single wing 1 to 3 inches | Fall into winter | Sow in fall |
| Tulip poplar | Cone of wings that falls apart | October to March | Chill 60 to 90 days |
Pods
We do not grow honey locust or mimosa.
| Tree | Sign | Falls | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Black locust | Flat pod 2 to 4 inches | September and October | Scald, soak overnight |
| Mimosa | Flat pod 4 to 8 inches | September to November | Invasive; do not sow |
| Honey locust | Twisted pod 6 to 18 inches, sweet pulp | September to late winter | Scald or nick the coat |
| Eastern redbud | Flat reddish pod 2 to 4 inches | Fall into winter | Scald, then a winter’s chill |
| Kentucky coffeetree | Thick, woody pod 5 to 10 inches | Late winter | File the coat; seed poisonous |
| Northern catalpa, southern catalpa | Thin, round bean up to 2 feet | Splits in spring | Sow untreated in spring |
Acorns and nuts
We grow all five.
| Tree | Sign | Falls | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red oaks, such as northern red oak | Acorn of two seasons | Late August to October | Sow in fall or chill |
| American hazelnut | Small nut in a ragged, hairy husk | September and October | Sow in fall |
| White oaks, such as white oak | Acorn of one season | September and October | Sow the week it falls |
| Shagbark hickory, northern pecan | Nut in a husk that splits in four | September and October | Sow in fall or chill |
| American beech | Prickly bur with two triangular nuts | September to November | Sow in fall; many are hollow |
Cones
We do not grow eastern hemlock or eastern white pine.
| Tree | Sign | Falls | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cucumber magnolia, southern magnolia | Knobby fruit, red seeds on threads | Late summer to fall | Clean, sow in fall, never dry |
| Eastern hemlock, Carolina hemlock | Cone ¾ to 1½ inches | Late summer, early fall | Chill, sow in spring |
| Red spruce | Hanging cone 1¼ to 2 inches | Fall | Sow in spring |
| Fraser fir | Upright cone that falls apart, leaving a spike | Scales in fall | Sow in fall |
| Eastern white pine, longleaf pine | Woody cone, two years to ripen | Seed in fall | Sow in fall |
| Bald cypress | Round cone up to 1.4 inches | October to December | Sow in fall, kept moist |
| Smooth alder | Inch-long woody cones | Hang all winter | Chill, sow on the surface |
Berries and soft fruit
We grow all seven.
| Tree | Sign | Falls | Seed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red mulberry | Blackberry-like fruit 1 to 1¼ inches, staining | June into August | Chill 2 to 3 months |
| Black cherry | Black cherry ⅜ inch | June to September | Sow pits in early fall |
| Pawpaw | Banana-like fruit 3 to 6 inches | August to October | Never dry; sow in fall |
| Flowering dogwood | Shiny red berries ½ inch | September to November | Sow stones in early fall |
| American persimmon | Orange fruit ¾ to 2 inches | September to November | Sow in fall |
| Eastern red cedar | Frosted blue cones ¼ inch | September to November | Sow thickly in fall |
| Common hackberry | Dark red to purple fruit ¼ to ⅓ inch | Fall into March | Sow in fall or chill |
Spiky balls: sweetgum, chestnut or sycamore
Sweetgum balls are the spiky ones on lawns from December to April, long after their seed has blown away.
“It is often the bane of some homeowners’ existence because of its messy, troublesome fruit.” (NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, Liquidambar styraciflua)
A chestnut bur is twice a sweetgum ball’s size, with very sharp spines, and splits on the tree in fall. A sycamore ball has no spines and hangs alone on a long stalk, while the London plane, a street hybrid we do not grow, hangs its balls in pairs. Black walnut and Osage orange drop green balls in September and October:
“It bears weird-looking, softball-sized, chartreuse, brainlike fruits, which often lie beneath the tree in abundance in autumn.” (Missouri Department of Conservation, Osage Orange)
Helicopters: spring maples and fall maples
Red and silver maple drop their helicopters from April to June, and silver maple seed sprouts as soon as it lands or dies if it dries. Sugar and black maple drop theirs from late September into December, and the seed waits for spring.
Either half of a maple pair may be empty. The Forest Service’s seed manual puts the share of tulip poplar wings that hold a seed at about 1 in 10.
Long pods: honey locust, catalpa or coffeetree
Catalpa pods are thin and round like a long bean and hang all winter, splitting in spring. Kentucky coffeetree pods are thick and woody, and only female trees bear them.
Honey locust pods are the flat, dark brown ones that twist as they dry, with a sweet pulp around the seeds that cattle eat. Thornless, seedless cultivars are the honey locusts popular along city streets.
Which seeds are worth planting
Acorns, chestnuts, hickory nuts, walnuts and buckeyes are the seed most worth sowing, since each grows from a fall sowing. Float them the day they are gathered, since sound acorns sink and the floaters are unsound, among them the insect-filled acorns of a light crop year. After dry weather some good acorns float until they soak overnight, and after rain some bad ones sink until they dry a few hours. Chestnuts, husked walnuts and buckeyes sort the same way. Locust, redbud and coffeetree seed grows too once its hard coat is broken. These are not worth sowing:
- Empty fruit. A sweetgum ball found in winter has often shed its seed, and a lone chestnut drops empty burs.
- Crossed or named trees. Red mulberry crosses with any white mulberry nearby, an invasive tree we do not grow. A named cultivar is kept true by cuttings or buds, not seed, as whether a seed comes true explains.
- Mimosa. It is listed as invasive in eight southern and mid-Atlantic states, and wind can carry its seed at least 300 feet.
What to do with what you found
The seed sowing planner turns a tree’s sowing advice into dates to chill, sow and expect seedlings, and seed from a yard tree follows the same rules. This link opens it on northern red oak acorns sown this fall. Planting acorns, nuts and seed covers storage and the first year. Blue Whale Trees sells acorns, nuts and seed collected from the same parent trees as its saplings. For a tree you cannot name, send a photo of the tree and of what fell through the support page.
Common questions
What tree has spiky balls?
Sweetgum, whose hard, woody balls 1 to 1½ inches across fall from December to April. A chestnut bur is twice that size, with very sharp spines.
What tree has helicopter seeds?
Maples: red and silver maple from April to June, sugar and black maple from late September into December. Ash and elm seeds have one wing.
What are the green balls falling from trees?
Black walnuts, green husks up to 2 inches across, or Osage oranges, wrinkled green balls 4 to 5 inches across, both falling in September and October.
What tree has seed pods that look like green beans?
Catalpa, whose thin, round pods grow up to 2 feet long and hang through winter. Honey locust pods are flat and twisted, and coffeetree pods thick and woody.
Sources
- Liquidambar styraciflua L., sweetgum: USDA Forest Service, Woody Plant Seed Manual, Agriculture Handbook 727 (2008), with the chapters for sycamore, chestnut, buckeye, walnut, Osage-orange, maple, ash, elm, tuliptree, hophornbeam, honeylocust, redbud, catalpa, oak, hickory, pine, spruce, fir, hemlock, dogwood and hackberry: when each fruit ripens and falls, sweetgum seed shed in fall and empty heads left over winter, the dormancy and pretreatment of each seed, empty maple samaras, the one tulip poplar wing in ten that holds seed, seed from rotted Osage orange fruit, the float test for acorns, chestnuts, walnuts and buckeyes, and named sweetgums grown from cuttings or buds.
- Sweetgum, Liquidambar styraciflua: Virginia Tech Dendrology, with the sheets for Osage-orange, red, silver and sugar maple, white ash, American elm, honeylocust, northern catalpa, American and Chinese chestnut, white and northern red oak, eastern hemlock, pawpaw and flowering dogwood: the size and look of each fruit and the season it matures.
- Liquidambar styraciflua: NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, with its page for mimosa: the quotation on sweetgum fruit, sweetgum balls littering the ground from December to April, and mimosa pods 4 to 8 inches long shed from September to November.
- Osage Orange: Missouri Department of Conservation field guide, with its pages for sycamore, honey locust, Kentucky coffee tree and northern catalpa: the quotation on Osage orange fruit, its size and season, single sycamore balls on long stalks through winter and the paired balls of London plane, honey locust pods 6 to 18 inches that twist and their sweet pulp, cattle eating the pods, thornless seedless street cultivars, coffeetree pods falling in late winter, and catalpa pods hanging through winter.
- Albizia julibrissin: USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: mimosa listed as invasive in eight southern and mid-Atlantic states, and wind carrying its seed at least 300 feet.