I confess I know the answer. It is, obviously, a botanical object, familiar, I had not seen it in this exact configuration before.
And by the way, a friend recently told me he learned that the pointy tip of this arrangement made an excellent toothpick, and had a history of this use.
We conjured up the silly idea of a new Floyd County home industry, foraging, packaging and selling these for a quarter at local boutique checkout counters.
So what is it?
Maybe it is the remnant of a some conifer cone? Very pretty!! I think craftsy people would love to include these in their dry flower arrangements, wreaths, etc. I bet they would pay more than a quarter, too. Maybe a OCD squirrel neatly ate his way down from the tip, and doesn’t like the final row of scales.
Hmmm… I’m thinking what’s left of a magnolia inflorescence after all the seeds have gone. But my experience with them is limited…
Kathy, it’s a reasonable guess that it might be a conifer, since the “scales” are tough and lignous, while most angiosperms have petal-like structures. And Sally, good call: you’re into the right plant ORDER, though the common name would throw a person off into an entirely unrelated group.
Folks in the eastern US can find similar examples in most any forest, but especially near water and in “cove forests.”
One of my favorite plants, and why would that be?
Great aroma, fastest growing wood in the forest, early succession or mature forest overstory, useful for furniture, framing, siding; lightweight easy to work; excellent heartwood coloration, playfull seed covers which whirl and dance through the air in dispersing it’s cargo.
Lyriodendron tuliperfera.
Question is why doesn’t the DOF produce seedlings for reforestation?
Tulip tree seed head.
Pine cone artfully chewed?