I don’t know what kind of tree this really is but when my kids were younger they used to call them Itchy Ball Trees! They used to break open those pod like things which are furry on the inside that throw them at each other. It made them itchy … hence the name!
Martha
2007-02-12 07:42My parents had a tree like that when we were kids. Dad called it a sycamore tree and it had a very unique bark too, kind of flaky-looking with varying colors. “Itchy Ball” is probably an acurate discription.
angela
2007-02-12 15:37I’ve seen plants like that here. I don’t know about itching but if they get caught in your clothes they’re impossible to remove.
Those colours are beautiful against that blue, blue sky.
Angela
Kate
2007-02-13 07:10Unusual but very compelling photo!
Carlos Lorenzo
2007-02-15 06:14I remember seeing those. They make a wonderful subject for a picture. Beautiful.
Pat
2007-02-19 01:01What a fantastic name! The name suits the tree completely.
I’ve been enjoying my look around your blog and I know I’ll be back!
Eva
2007-04-09 14:39It is Platanus occidentalis.
Jeanne
2007-07-26 12:46I was telling my husband about the “itchy ball trees” and he thought I was crazy. Thank you! I am printing the picture to show him. As kids we would break up the balls and put them down the backs of each other’s shirts. LOL.
Warren
2007-10-24 10:41I’m from South Africa and we have lots of these around the town I live in. They are called Sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) trees.
mark
2007-10-30 13:53these trees were quite comman while living in Brooklyn, NY in the 1970’s. We too would throw them at each other or break up the ball to get at the seeds on the inside and splatter them on an unsuspecting person. Thankfully this rite of passage was limited to Halloween.
Jennifer Zaichenko
2020-11-27 18:07I grew up in Queens, NY. We had ” itchy ball trees” and the “mean kids” would take the seed pods and put them down our shirts and smash them– we would itch uncontrollably for hours. It was terrible!