Can anyone identify this seed pod

I live in Cornwall, on the east coast of Tasmania. Several of these pods were brought to me and I have no idea what they are. Can anyone please help. The pod is 2"/5cm tall

This message was edited Sep 8, 2007 10:18 PM

Looks like a WWII land mine that has drifted in to Tassie ?

Don't know what it is but it sure looks painful!

Only if you ate it and tried to P..... it

Sorry mate ....seriously I hope you find out what it is....I did try to look it up but could not find it.
chrissy :)

I saw it on a 23 Klm walk 2 weeks ago .
No idea what it is .
When I blew it up , it did look a bit naughty . LOL

It must be the ultimate in plant defence. Nothing I know of on this planet would attempt to eat that...and I thought roses were bad. Those spines are hard. I haven't opened it but where it is starting to open there are dozens of small seeds inside. No it's not this week's mystery object from the ABC's Collectors show

This message was edited Sep 9, 2007 6:22 AM

Wow ....please let us know when you find out what it is.....:)

I think it might be a Liquidamber seed pod. We had this tree and the lorikeets would pick through them at the top of it and drop them on the ground or on our heads if we were unlucky!!! Let me know if I'm right. It is a beautiful tree. The only downside are those asteroids - as we decided to term them!! Really painful on bare feet!

I have a 25 ft high one next to my creek .
I will now keep a close eye out for Seeds .
The tree is 15 years old You would think I would have seen them by now .
When Battery is fully charged I will Take Pics .
Our Liquidamber Might be different to others ?

I forgot about liquid amber seed pods ...I have never opened one up...do they have little seeds inside?...2 inches is a big pod.the liqud amber ones are about an inch aren't they?

I tried to find a pic of the Liquidambar seed pod with no luck. Might look through Google images. It's also has the common name of Sweetgum if that helps.

Liquid amber pod

So what are these .
They look more like the original Pic .

Castor oil plants (illegal in NSW) cause they poison anyone who chomps on the seeds that are in that capsule.

That is one NASTY seed pod. My suggestion is you post that one on the Plant ID Forum, they are good folks over there. By the way, you have inadvertently solved one of my ID problems. Twice I've gone up into the Adelaide Hills and collected those latticework Liquidamber pods from the ground, just because they look so good, but by chance never when the trees were in leaf so I didn't know what they actually were! I agree though, you wouldn't want to stand under them when they drop! TTFN, KK.

Thanks guys, looks like the mystery is solved..castor oil plant seeds. I looked them up after getting the ID and it said they weren't in Tassie. They must have slipped in along with the fox, that isn't supposed to be here either. I didn't notice a plant ID forum, but will know next time.

Here in Texas we call them castor beans. Grow them among our garden plants to deter moles. Marie K

Hello all. You certainly came up with a mystery pod aussieglyn. I used to have the castor oil plants growing when I lived in WA. They grow everywhere up around the Geraldton and inland areas. They are supposed to stop your chooks getting covered in stickies or sand fleas. It must work as while I had them growing in the chook pen there were no stickies around. The seeds are poisoous but the chooks never ate them.
With all the other spiny oddballs, I thought I would add mine. This is the seed pod of a Eucalypt, commonly called the Platypus Gum, I believe.
Hubby planted a row of these along a fence. Before I married him, I might add, as I would not have let him plant such a savage plant. The trees are absolutely covered in these pods and they don't easily fall off so it's like a medieval mace when you have to pick up a branch full of them. They are quite heavy too .It's a terrible job to walk around that part of the garden, as there are 100's of them on the ground. Yes they do eventually fall off
Add this to your "don't plant" list.
Happy gardening .

Holy Smokes! 77 that is amazing never heard of them ....incredible!

77sunset,
what are chooks?
Just an ignorant Alaskan...
Carol

ha ha ha chickens

Thanks Chrissy, I can't be a "Know-it-all" whithout that little tidbit! LOL

Was this pod identified? I am pretty sure it is Datura ferox.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/DaturaFerox-Fruit.JPG/800px-DaturaFerox-Fruit.JPG

The pic in Plantfiles is wrong.

This message was edited Dec 8, 2007 7:26 PM