I don't have pic of shrub and it's leaves but I did manage to pick some fruit. It usually grow on well drained areas on northern exposure and I've heard "old timers" call it a "dough ball bush".......usually 4'-6' high....any clues to it's identity?
conifer50
Bump
Does this look familiar?
http://www.herbalgram.org/files/images/Bigelow_MayApple.jpg
edited to say:Sorry, probably not!
This message was edited Oct 16, 2006 9:46 PM
Equil,
Thanks for bumping this. I was waiting for the correct ID but it got down on the page and nearly forgotton. Hopefully conifer50 won't keep us in suspense too much longer????
Regards,
Ernie
I was watching the thread too and zip nadda nothing. I keep looking at it and thinking Persea.
It looks like an avocado crossed with a quince. Is there such a thing as a hardy avocado?
I certainly don't have any ideas on this one's ID..........I'll try to get back and take a pic before the leaves fall.....One strange thing about this shrub that the leaves stay green until a hard freeze comes and then fall suddenly, all within one day!!!!
conifer50
The five bumps on the bottom make me think Rosaceae family, but it's not a fruit/seed I recognize.
If conifer50 can't give us the ID, then it must be a fruit from the legendary Sasquatchia lochnessiensis. I think it was first spotted in the wild by Amelia Earhart, and the last report was from Jimmy Hoffa.
Pinckneya bracteata ?
www.gwf.org/fevertree.htm
Guess not.
This message was edited Oct 17, 2006 3:04 PM
Looks like a relative of an avocado to me; a Persea spp. Let's see, there's Persea borbonia. (I wish I had my book with me, for more Persea species).
Hart, yes, there is such a thing as "hardy avocado". There is a Persea that is hardy to zone 8, I believe.
Persea nubigena? http://avocadosource.com/slides/20040328/005009s.htm
What do the fruits smell like?
This message was edited Oct 17, 2006 10:31 AM
Don't know what it is, but it isn't Persea, that has a smoothly rounded fruit apex (like an Avocado), not five lobes like this thing.
Resin
Brilliant! Looks as if we've got a great possible ID on the table for conifer50-
Sasquatchia lochnessiensis. I think it was first spotted in the wild by Amelia Earhart, and the last report was from Jimmy Hoffa.
Is there an alternate spelling, Equilibrium? It turns up nada in Google search.
ROFL!
Nada is the family name, Nadaceae
No wonder I'm having trouble; Nadaceae? I've been googling Mythicaceae.
It looks a bit like a Cydonia, though I don't know that plant intimately. The fruit illustrated seems on the small side, has a bit too pyriform a shape, and is apparently single-seeded. Hmmm...
If it's not Sasquatchia lochnessiensis, then maybe it's the Oriental equivalent Yetia abominabilicarpa.
Ppppffffft. Conifer50, fess up. Did you photoshop this?
Is the inside doughy or hard? If hard, how many licks until you get to the middle?
I took the liberty of sending the pic to Don Jacobs-if anyone knows, he would. On the phone, he did not have a clue though.
I can say that the fruit has little odor, the "nutmeats" are quite firm and taste awfull!!!
A "Trip to the Mountain" is a must for pics of this shrub with the elusive identity......I've wondered for years....
conifer50
P.S. Photoshop does not enter into the equation!!!!!!
Walnuttis mountainous?
I should have known, its:
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/Pyrulpu.htm
(Ok--I cheated--along with an e-mail to Don Jacobs I sent one to Dr. Dirr. He was quick to respond with the ID.)
Does that qualify me for some of those seeds Conifer50? By the way, its poisonous, and should not be eaten.
Kneevin, thanks, I wouldn't have been able to sleep a wink.
Oh dear, severe irritation of the mouth?! Conifer did you really taste it? I hope you're all right.
This message was edited Oct 17, 2006 6:10 PM
Of course! Pyrularia pubera. It was on the tip of my tongue. Many is the time I would help my grandmother in the kitchen, grinding Buffalo Nut down to a paste and mixing it into my grandfather's food. Oh, would she delight in the howls of pain this would cause him.
She used to send me out into the forest to collect the nuts, always carefully directing me to look for a deciduous shrub with thin, simple, alternate leaves. "Remember," she would tell me, "the flowers are inconspicuous in elongated clusters, and the fruit is an elongated, pear-shaped drupe. And what else?" she would quiz. And I would proudly pipe up, "It is widest at the apex with 5 scars of the flower parts!" "You are such a smart boy," she would marvel, and send me out into the deep, primitive forest.
Oh, such fond memories. Sometimes we would distill calcium oxalate crystals from the seeds in her alchemy lab. Boy, those were the days.
Scott
Thanks to all in getting this shrubs true identity "out in the open."......and to think my erroneous thoughts were that 'All' Buffalo Nuts were extrapated from the Eastern US!
conifer50
um, Scott, yer twisted.
Don't ever change!
LOL Prairiegirl! I agree!
Ernie
