How to Identify Tree Seed Balls
- 1). Obtain a tree key either by using the library or finding one online. Learn to use the dichotomous key. The key will ask a series of questions where the answers are simple and limited, such as: "Is the seed round or flat?" The answers will lead you to the correct species.
- 2). Determine if the seed is round or not. Some seed balls are not truly round, but pyramid-shaped -- like a sumac seed ball.
- 3). Determine if the seed ball is fleshy or dry and hard. Plants like Osage orange are fleshy, while sweet gum trees, sycamore trees and London plane trees (a sycamore hybrid) have dry balls.
- 4). Observe the size of the spikes on the seed ball. If the spikes are long, 1/4 the size of the seed ball, your tree is a sweet gum. If there is only seed ball and it has no spikes or small 1/8-inch spikes, the seed ball came from a sycamore. If your seed balls hang in a cluster of two or three and have short spikes, the source of the seed ball is a London plane tree.
Source...