Howdy, I need help on this item please and will attach one person's opinion after looking at the attached photos. > John, the images you sent were shown to Paul Cox, San Antonio Botanical Garden, and this was his response: "Believe this is the seed pod of a species of Brachychiton, the Australian Flame tree or one of it's relatives." > Any idea what this is? The attached photos are of one from another person, Joe that found his in Houston, Texas while mine was found near Lake Dallas, Texas. Joe said his was not found near a lake but smelled like a dead animal and his dog had it in his mouth. > > I will attach photos of his and of mine. I have had many scientist look at mine and 50% see the sutures and think it is a skull. > > My guess is a water plant seed pod since I broke it in half and it looked like wood, then I glued it back together. I tried to cut it with my knife and it was very, very hard and I could not cut it. > > I did a Google search and saw a few water Lillie seed pods that are close, but not exact. > Thanks for your help, > > John
Hello, As to Water Lily seeds - most are quite round. An interesting image. I will return to see others comments and give help if I am able. PP
Joe's are the first 2 photos found in Houston and the others are of mine found in Dallas. The Size of mine is 9 x 4 cm, or 3 3/4 x 2 inches. I think they are the same seed pod, while Joe thinks his is a skull. Thanks, John
Hi folks, I've just registered so that I could help you out. Even thought I'm a herpetologist, I've been teaching and learning biology most of my life and have seen some 'interesting' and wonderful things. Your images are great! It's the lower jaw bone of the drum fish. The teeth are cobblestone-like in order to crush oysters and other shellfish. Yes, it would smell and thus be attractive to carnivores. I believe one was also found next to water. Does this help? Best wishes Phil Phillip Arena PhD
Sorry folks, Here's a link so that you can confirm your mystery http://www.fossil-treasures-of-florida.com/black-drum.html and some more general information on the species. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/blackdrum/ Take care Phil
You're very welcome. I hope I'm not going to elicit too many groans when I say that having such an object appear in this forum was a bit of a 'red herring'! Forgive me. However, given that, there certainly are some impressive seed pods around. One of my favourites has to be the 'skull like' pods of Aquilegia - always worth a second glance. Best wishes to all.
Thanks for the info and it looks just like Joe's! I do believe you have his! But, I still wonder why mine looks so much like wood when I broke it open and tried cutting it with a knife? It surely looked like wood, even on the top and inside when I broke it open. Wonder why? Thanks again for your help and great links, John San Antonio
Hi ecoarena, Thanks for the ID, I'm glad you were able to share your biological knowledge with us! Maybe you might be able to ID this persistent UBC mystery, the cobra seeds: http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=46795 . I think a lot of us would be interested if someone were to find an answer to this one! Joey
