These are Dianne's itchy balls.
(This is her photograph.)
These are the
seed balls that I find under my plane tree. In my opinion, these are much softer and smoother. (I couldn't even find any whole ones today. They squish and explode almost as soon as they hit the ground.)I think Dianne's itchy balls appear to be harder and sort of prickly.
So my verdict is that they are from two different types of trees. My plane tree also has bark that peels off very easily - sometimes in sheets. Is yours similar to that, Dianne? They could be in the same family of trees I guess. I don't know enough about the subject to tell.
This very serious study came about because I have posted a few pictures from time to time, on Sky Watch mostly, and have received quite a number of comments from people asking about "those balls" or "the fruits" on the tree. Then Dianne posted a photo today for Straight Out of the Camera, of what she calls "itchy balls" from her tree. So I was inspired to do a post on the subject.
It isn't as if there aren't deeper subjects to cover this month. Among others, it is Autism Awareness Month. It is also Poetry Month - another subject dear to my heart. I'll have to give that more thought before the month's end.
