ID this tree

May 20, 2013 2:44 PM

Picture here. The flowers give off a mild, sweet smell and are kinda sticky at the white, hollow ends. The shells on the left open into halves, and those halves are divided in half, so I doubt they are nutshells (unless those nuts come pre-cut into quarters). This all came from a tree with wide green leaves, here in the southeast USA. That's all I remember about it. Any ideas what tree this might be? Any help would be appreciated!
posted by ditto75 to Science & Nature (7 answers total)

Looks like a paulownia tomentosa to me.
posted by Pallas Athena at 2:51 PM on May 20, 2013

Looks like a Jacaranda to me. Seed pod photo.
posted by Ideefixe at 5:38 PM on May 20, 2013

Seconding jacaranda. That's what we used to call them anyway...
posted by The otter lady at 7:11 PM on May 20, 2013

Thirding Paulownia. They are in bloom right now to boot. Considered invasive in the southeast.. The seed pods match the photos in the Wikipedia article too.
posted by jquinby at 8:22 PM on May 20, 2013

Yeah, that's a pawlonia. The wide green leaves are the giveaway -- jacaranda in the US usually has little green ovals on either side of the central rib, whereas pawlonia has big ol' fuzzy leaves. They pop up in abandoned lots.
posted by joyceanmachine at 8:49 PM on May 20, 2013

Paulownia
posted by humboldt32 at 9:00 AM on May 21, 2013

They look a lot like the pods I asked about in an askme of my own here (with pictures). And those were from a Paulownia tomentosa.
posted by bjrn at 11:24 AM on May 21, 2013