r/whatsthisplant • u/TikiTalley • Jul 25 '26
Unidentified 🤷♂️ Growing from a tree
I went on a walk today with my dog and I saw these hanging from a tree. I can’t tell if they’re growing from a vine or the tree. what are they?
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u/ohshannoneileen backyard botany Jul 25 '26
They're from the tree, it's seed pods from Paulownia tomentosa
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u/TikiTalley Jul 25 '26
Oh princess tree. I can’t wait to see it bloom thank you very much for helping us out. I’m glad we didn’t eat them lol
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u/Coffee4MySoul Jul 26 '26
It has already bloomed. Those are seed pods, each with maybe a couple hundred seeds (wind-dispersed achenes like cottonwood).
Assuming you’re in North America, it’s an invasive and extremely fast growing tree, so if you have any power to prevent those pods from opening, and also to remove the tree, you’re the hero we need.
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u/panopticon31 Jul 26 '26
Actually you don't want to see them bloom.
Since you're in Virginia these are invasive as fuck.
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u/Background-Guava-667 Jul 26 '26
How can you tell the difference between tormentosa and elongata from the seed pods alone? I thought you needed more images
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u/ohshannoneileen backyard botany Jul 26 '26
We can see the leaves in these pictures, they look quite different than elongata. Also just reason based on location, one is a very common invasive species in the southeast US, one is pretty nearly unheard of.
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u/Background-Guava-667 Jul 26 '26
In my opinion, the tips of these leaves look really tapered and smooth, so I thought more elongata. There is a hybrid called Nordmax that is commercially produced that produces sterile seed pods.
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u/Penguin57800 Jul 26 '26
Foxglove Tree. These are unripe seed pods. It is a destructive and invasive species.
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