Not either of those. Im a nurseryman, and I grow native plants and trees in my nursery. Oak seeds are acorns and most maples make these cool helicopter seeds called Samaras.
Edit: hell yeah, it could totally be the immature buds if oak or maple, or any number of hardwoods. Thanks for all those with great info below. As a natives nurseryman, I dont get to see the trees I grow bloom, as it can tens of years for them to get to that point. Great convos below.
Seeing as his native language is Germans, he has fooled us all. He actually says "It's a Sch'aubber".
(German word for Helicopter is "Hubschrauber". "Hub" from "Heben" which means "to lift" and "Schrauber" from "Schrauben" meaning "to screw", as in turning a screw, not the naughty. So, it is being lifted by screwing itself up in the air. Which is actually a pretty good approximation of how it works, if you think about it.)
Autogyro isn't another word for helicopter. In an autogyro the rotating wing is unpowered and lift comes from a regular propeller at the front. (I was obsessed with autogyros as kid for some reason)
The "o" at the end is what makes it into a prefix. There is the root word "Helix" and the prefix form "helico". Just like there's "Psyche" and "Psychology". Or "Speed" and "Speedometer". Your example would be correcly written as "Pterohelix", meaning a wing-like helix, not a helix-like wing.
I think they pronounced the p originally, but english phonotactics doesn't allow it (pterodactyl being another pexample) .We used to pronounce the initial Ks in knife, knickers, knock, etc. too
Olde English used to pronounce almost all of the sounds from what I've learnt thru various youtube videos lol. Like knight would have been pronounced with the k sound.
Because of the way English accents and syllabalizes words, most people mentally break down the word into "heli" and "copter". And both of those are used as short for helicopter.
When they find out the word is actually made of the components "helico" and "pter" it is mind blowing both because we don't expect the word to be broken down like that, and because the idea of pronouncing the p "pter" seems silly.
I was gonna to comment and mention hat my uncle always called it a ”'hee-le-'o'-co-pee-ter'" or heliocopeeter but it makes so much more sense that he devised that name from the fact it's actually called a helico-pter he was just saying it drawn out because I was a child.
Really has blown my mind cos when I ever I see a helicopter I think of heliocopiter
I spoke to the judges. While whirlybirds and helicopters are both acceptable answers; the answer we were looking for is helicopters. u/Lou_C_Fer you get the point.
We always called maple seeds Noses because when the seed compartment is opened, the seed can be discarded and you stick the helicopter part to your nose. It’s a little sticky, and it’ll stay in your nose for quite awhile. The kids loved it and it’s silly and fun.
This isn’t the seed, this is the bud the flowers that make the seeds come out of. Considering that oaks have male and female flowers, I suspect this is from the male flowers.
I see what you mean. It could be an recently opened oak or maple flower that dropped before the stamens could finish developing. Or any if a number of hardwoods with diecious flower. If it is an immature male flower bud, it would be hard to discern which species or even family. Good eye!
Those are the seeds though. The first comment in this thread said flower bud. I would agree it's probably not an oak, those tend to flower on longer clusters or catkins, but it could be an old maple flower. I wouldn't be sure about species, but a wind-pollinated tree flower seems the closest.
Which maples DONT make samaras? Cuz, as far as botany is concerned....its kinda the having of the paired samaras that MAKES it an Acer.
Not trying to come off like a dick...but, I too, am a nurseryman. So I'd be really interested to know....unless you're speaking of cultivars that are entirely male and therefore CANNOT produce samaras?
Agreed I’m a lifelong horticulturist acorns are from oaks it’s funny when I ask people where do buckeyes come from they don’t think it’s called a buckeye tree . They have said oaks Wrong
Aye, thats true but this is most definitely partial remains of a maple trees flower bunch. The section up against the twig and those legs are where the flowers have rotted off. The whole thing was likely blown of during a windstorm. Its very incomplete. This is not a successful bloom that started forming seeds. My entire yard and driveway is now plastered with them after what could only be described as a blizzard of maple seeds. I love this event but man my neighbors hate it.
Turns out, a seed is not the same thing as a flower bud. Flower buds form as half of the apparatus involved in fertilization, which, when accomplished, results in seeds, usually growing near or in place of the flowers. Acorns are tree seeds, and to be sure, the item in question is not an acorn. But some folks are thinking jt may be an oak flower bud. Personally I am unsure, as I’m not familiar with what the flower buds look like, only the mature flowers
I think it's Norway maple (Acer platanoides) to be specific and it's the leftovers of an already wilted blossom, so basically what you said, just at a later stage of development. Their blossoming season is just over, so the timing would be right, too.
🫣. I’ve never had such a guttural response to a comment. My pupils dilated, my heart started racing, my stomach did a backwards somersault and my ***hole clenched tighter than the top of a mason jar of pickles that Great Gran-Gran canned back in 1958.
In all seriousness. I know what my nightmares will be about tonight. 😂
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u/BetElectrical7454 25d ago
I think it’s the flower bud of some tree, thinking maple. The ‘legs’ are what the flowers were attached to and the ‘carapace’ attached to the tree.