Sorry for potato quality, but it’s soft and fuzzy on the outside, and the inside is somewhat mushy and is a light yellow/green color, and it’s about 2 inches long.
Found under some trees at our city park in South Mississippi.
Edit: I’m now seeing a number of the fuzzy peels laying around one of the picnic tables, so is it some sort of food?
Edit 2: It doesn’t seem to have any notable smell that I can tell.
Edit 3: Solved - Magnolia Flower Bud
We’re actually sitting under a Magnolia tree right now and I just looked up and saw one still on the tree, so this is now 100% confirmed.
My first thought is maybe a magnolia flower bud? Not sure it’s the right fuzzy though. You might see if you can identify the park trees.
Damn, you nailed it!
Magnolia flower bud!
We’re actually sitting under a Magnolia tree right now and I just looked up and saw one still on the tree, so this is now 100% confirmed.
Open it, if it’s full of fluffy white filling with seeds, it’s a milkweed pod.
It’s a favorite among monarch butterfliesI just did, it’s filled with a whole bunch of seeds alright, but they’re definitely not fluffy.
They are soft however, they measure around 15mm long and about 2mm wide, and are mostly the same color as the outer layer once the peel is removed, except the end of the seeds attached to the core is red.
I tasted one of the little seeds and almost immediately spit it out, it tasted about like pine sap, and had a very green smell to it.
If by chance it actually is a milkweed pod, it has to be an unripened one. Or just something else altogether. 🤷
I’m far from an expert, but it looks like a Milkweed pod to me.
Hmm, I just looked those up online, plus just cut this one in half for comparison. Unless what I have just happens to be a not quite ripe pod, I’m not totally sure, but it does contain many many packed separate mini seeds inside, similar color to the outer layer after removing the peel. The inside ends of the mini seeds where they attach to the core is red.
Given that there are cooking recipes for milkweed pods, I went ahead and tasted one of the micro seeds (which measure about 15mm long and about 2mm wide), and honestly it tasted about like pine sap, and the inside smells very green.
Perhaps its an unripened milkweed pod, or perhaps it’s something else, I dunno. But I’ll tell ya this much, I ain’t in any hurry to eat it.
IT’S PIKACHU!!!
