• Name this “pea-sized tree pumpkin”!

    Question

    Found these on a hike this afternoon, if I had to guess I'd call this pea-sized tree pumpkin!? A number of these were falling from the canopy!

    Naturalist's Response

    Wow, that’s a great photo!

    Our number-one suspect is an pokeberry. Here’s a terrific photo from the Ohio State University Weed Guide website.  They look like little green pumpkins about this time of year, though some have already started ripening into their trademark dark-purple color.

    (A great way to identify pokeberry fruit with 100% certainty is to make sure that it has exactly 10 sections; I’m afraid I can’t count the sections on the berry in your photo.)

    The only oddity would be that pokeberries falling from the tree canopy, since they only grow to about the height of an adult human.

    Our number-two suspect is an unripe buckthorn fruit.  They’re about the same size as pokeberries, but buckthorn trees grow much higher than pokeberry plants.  Maybe they’re the ones dropping on you from the canopy. Here’s a photo from a buckthorn-removal hobbyist.

    Buckthorn trees/shrubs are a fast-spreading nuisance that we try to control in our parks; however, there are still plenty of buckthorn saplings along some of our trails.

    Thanks for sharing your finding. I hope this helps to figure out what you saw!

    -Naturalist Chris Mentrek