Aloha! I found this pod the other day, sadly it was in a produce bag on top of a pile of rubbish, (that I was charged with disposing of, as I caretake a vacation rental down by the ocean on the Big Island of Hawaii) so I did not get to see what plant it came from. It looks like a partly deflated, mango shaped pod. When you tear it open it is mostly hollow, you see loofa like fibers, then a shiny part covers the seeds. They are like brown scales, attached to white silk. When the seeds are pulled off and dried out, they make those little seed parachutes for wind dispersal. I have lived in Hawaii many years, and never run across this anywhere before. Can anyone help identify it? Thank you, Keaau
Asclepias of some sort. A milkweed. I know nothing of Hawaiian natives. But a search of Asclepias and Hawaii pulled up several species, but the very first one I clicked on gave me Asclepias physocarpa which has the common name of "Balloon Plant" or "Goose Milkweed". Sounds like it could be a possibility.
Thank you so much Ginger, for pointing me in the right direction. Asclepias search turned up this image of Calitropa procera, and the pods are the same. Mahalo nui! I will attach the image.
(admin note - looks like that site grants permission to use images for educational purposes, but we'll give them their proper credit just in case: www.plantsystematics.org)
