Barb's Treasures

Remember these?
(more info at end of post)
I posted them on my Treasures blog a few days ago.
I had found them on my morning walk,
and could see nothing around that might have 'produced' them.

When i walked again a couple of days ago,
i looked even harder to see what these might be a part of.

This is what i found:
a big, sort of grape leaf looking vine,
growing as high as 20' up into the surrounding trees,
and sprawling across the ground 10' almost to the road.

If you enlarge this pic you will see the mysterious things in the vine.
I ventured a closer look all around the
ground to see what they might be.
And this is what i found.
They are seed pods, just as i thought.
As far as i could see, they each held 4-6 seeds.

I laid out the parts i found to show the progression
of these.
The top one is how they are on the vine.
A green, prickly, oblong pod.

The next pic down is where the 'shell' is staring
to pull away and rot, exposing our
little white friend, the "lining" to the pod shell.

The next two or three pics are various
stages of this outside shell breaking away, and rotting.
At the bottom just the lining is left.

I've been collecting them to put in jars at the shop.
See them in a cloche at the right?



Love this picture of the leaves starting to lose their green.

And here are some that are almost totally white.

That is all about the mysterious seed pods and linings.
Still do not know what kind of vine it is,
but sure have enjoyed discovering them.
Later I will share how Good uses nature to speak to our hearts.

Blessings,
Barbara Jean

AN ANSWER

For those of you who are interested, read on.
Keetha Broyles (a science teacher)has responded
with some insight into these 'pods'.


In Biology what you have there is called a "dry fruit." That's because it contains seeds and is the ripened ovary of a flower, but it isn't fleshy like an apple or orange - - - so it is called a "dry fruit." It depends on wind and or sticking to the fur of animals to be disbursed. Fleshy fruits are disbursed when an animal eats them and then "deposits" their seed away from the original plant.

Yes, there was a flower. Remember, some flowers aren't "obvious" as flowers. The plant is obviously an angiosperm (specifically a dicot - - - I can tell that from the veins in the leaves - - - they are branched off of a midrib vein) All angiosperms reproduce using flowers.

About "sticking to fur" - - - they look rough, I IMAGINE their main method of seed dispersal IS from being blown around by the wind - - - but if they can catch on the fur at all, even only to be carried a short distance - - - that is also seed dispersal.

Thank you Keetha!!
(you can see her blog by clicking on her name in the comments section)