Sweet Gum Ball

"The infertile seeds found in each of the sweet gum’s compound seed capsules are a naturally occurring source of shikimic acid, one of the main ingredients in the manufacture of Tamiflu." ( https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/nyregion/sweet-gum-tree-tamiflu.html)

[Esther Rosenberg]

Nice details

[PhotoCrazy]

Nice!

[Mags]

Wonderful capture! I love those spiky balls.

[Diana]

Beautiful shot with fabulous detail and colour. Such intetdying info of which I was not aware.

[~*~ Jo ~*~]

Lovely capture

[Ricksnap]

Wow - this looks almost like an alien being....well shot and great dof

[Walks @ 7]

Love the crisp detail. I didn't know that about this little seed pods.

[haskar]

Great details and colour.

[Susan Wakely]

Fascinating plant and info.

[Mary Anne]

Interesting composition!

[Nick]

Nice dof. Interesting info. I wonder why it produces seeds if they’re infertile.

[Kate]

@ludwigsdiana @nickspicsnz I did a little more research about the sweet gum balls. Each ball has one or two seeds. Fertile seeds are black with wings and infertile seeds are yellow without wings. So it seems that a sweet gum tree produces both fertile and infertile seeds.

[Babs]

Gee it looks like Covid.

[Jane Pittenger]

Fascinating

[Diana]

@k9photo Thanks for the info Kate, it sounds rather amazing.

[aikiuser (jenn)]

So interesting, and so beautiful!

[GaryW]

Very nice composition. I like the leaf behind the ball.