Can you guess what I’m holding in the photo? I’ll give you 2 clues-its unbelievably poky and it’s not a chestnut.
Tipper
p.s. The Week Of The Crow will start on Sunday. What is the week of the crow? -Well its a week full of stories, photos, and tidbits about my favorite bird -the crow. And there will even be a giveaway or two.
Appalachia Through My Eyes – A series of photographs from my life in Southern Appalachia.
40 Comments
Gaye Blaine
July 10, 2020 at 10:45 amChinquapin burr. Used to string chinks on a twine strung for a necklace to wear to school to munch on during recess outside. Just a dirt field where we played Mother May I? Hop Scotch. Tag. Ball. Just run and laugh. Chase the boys. Jump Rope. No fancy equipment as is considered “necessary” today for children. Used our imagination.
JOHNIE T. ARANT
December 5, 2012 at 12:43 pmPLEASE LET US ALL KNOW WHAT IT IS.
JOHNIE
B F
December 5, 2012 at 11:41 ama hedge apple??????
Juana
October 1, 2011 at 5:47 pmWOW, and they are big! How interesting! 🙂 too bad I read the last post first now I know it’s a
Chinquapin!!
Becky
September 26, 2011 at 8:35 amIt’s too big to be a sweet gum ball and it ain’t a chestnut, I have no idea!
Judy
September 25, 2011 at 9:28 amI have seen the thing you have in the picture but don’t know what it is. I am interested to find out. Also, I never think about crows that I don’t think about Heckle and Jeckle in the comics. Used to read them all the time when I was a child.
Mary Rutherford
September 24, 2011 at 12:30 amFirst thought: an Irish Hedgehog. It reminds me of a mock orange. I have used chips of the wood to dye wool before.
Sherie Rowe
September 23, 2011 at 9:58 pmA chinquapin burr, definitely!
janet pressley
September 23, 2011 at 8:25 pmIs it a chinkapin? Nana
Nancy
September 23, 2011 at 7:38 pmTipper, I want to say something about crows (which is not exactly a response to this post, but….)
I have heard that crows are really smart, very bossy, and that they hoard shiny objects. I don’t know first-hand about any of those things. What I do know is that the collective noun for a group of crows is called a “murder.”
A murder of crows woke me very early a few days ago. They were Very Unhappy about something, though I couldn’t tell what. Because they woke me so early, I felt like “murdering” them! Not really, but they were so bothersome for such long time, an hour or more.
I’m looking forward to reading your posts about crows. And what I’d most like is to find a young one and raise it.
Paulette Tonielli
September 23, 2011 at 6:39 pmI thought it was a Chinese chestnut burr – I do know it’s definitely not a hedge apple (Osage orange), which is common in the midwest. hedge apples are grapefruit-sized and lacking the spines. The old-timers say they keep out mice and bugs – never worked for me…
lynn legge
September 23, 2011 at 6:09 pmi too thought it was a buckeye .. but also didnt know if what is inside is green and smooth.. they call them monkeyballs around here.. seriously.. and like someone else said…. they are to deter spiders .. my mom used to have me stop along side the road and pick them up. cant wait to see what answer you have.. and had to laugh about the tribble.. lol
my hubby is a big star trek fan
sending big ladybug hugs. this dreary rainy day
lynn
Jim Casada
September 23, 2011 at 5:50 pmTipper–I’ve found a lot of the answers interesting and will comment on them a bit.
1. Buckeyes have a smooth-skinned hull or husk somewhat like that on a pecan or hickory nut, so that guess is wrong. Also, Jim (another one) mentioned eating buckeyes. I don’t think so. They are quite poisonous, and least for cattle, and I certainly don’t think it would be wise the sample them.
2. Sweet gum balls aren’t nearly as big as what you show and while they have lots of spur-like extrusions, they are not sharp.
3. Hedge apples (or Osage oranges, or bodoc fruit) are much larger and have no stickers.
4. Sycamore balls are smooth and fuzzy and much smaller.
So it ain’t a buckeye, Osage orange, sycamore ball, or sweet gum ball.
If it is a chinquapin, it is by far the biggest burr I’ve ever seen, and I still think it looks exactly like a Chinese chestnut.
Ken, I appreciate your faith in my botanical knowledge, and I reckon I’ve got a decent layman’s store of it, but Tipper has flat out got me mystified on this one. I’m virtually it is a plant of the castanea genus, but the only ones I know that grow in the mountains are the American chestnut, Chinese chestnut (introduced), and chinquapin.
Jim Casada
http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com
NCMountainwoman
September 23, 2011 at 4:23 pmChinquapin burr. We used to take bags of chinquapins to eat during the high school football games. Way better than peanuts.
Rachel
September 23, 2011 at 3:36 pmAs for Scrooch, we used that one too, but mostly the scrage one! I have heard the scraf one too! Interesting, these words we use!!
Rachel
September 23, 2011 at 3:31 pmI don’t know what it is!
Wanda in NoAla
September 23, 2011 at 3:19 pmWe call them hedge apples around here, and some people call them osage oranges. People put them in their house because they are supposed to deter insects.
David Templeton
September 23, 2011 at 2:15 pmChinkypin.
Kent Lockman
September 23, 2011 at 1:13 pmMy guess is the same as some of the others here. I think it is a chinquapin burr. Got a friend to check your granny’s pear preserves recipe. She just put up some pear spread. I think I have you a new reader, Tipper.
Ken
September 23, 2011 at 1:07 pmTipper,
If Jim hadn’t had a previous
engagement and was able to attend
brother Don’s birthday party
nestled in the beautiful woods of
Deep Creek last Saturday, he would
know exactly what that thing is.
About all the folks there was
stumped too.
You have a way of bringing up so
many interestings things…Ken
Charlotte
September 23, 2011 at 11:19 amGreen sweetgum ball or sycamore ball?
Laurie Stone
September 23, 2011 at 10:44 amTipper,
On Bent mountain in Mercer County we called them Chinky-Pins. My cousins and I would have the “awfullest” chink-pin battles you ever did see when we were kids. Someone always went away crying!
Kimberly Burnette-Dean
September 23, 2011 at 10:12 amhmmm…would have thought that it was an American chestnut burr. You have me stumped! 🙂
Kimberly
Jim
September 23, 2011 at 9:55 amI almost have to argue on that’n, I gots a whole yard full of them critters, use to have three of them trees till storms back in 96 took care of two of them, got one left. Good shade tree. That burr will have about 3 or 4 nuts in it depending on how big it gets. Well if it ain’t a chestnut, maybe its a buckeye, come to think of it the nuts that are in that burr are dark brown and they have what looks like a light brown eye on one side, when you peel off the hull and eat the nut it taste like a sweet potatoe, to me anyway. We’ve always called them chestnuts down here, but if its not that, I would guess its a buckeye. My wife was goin to roast some up in the oven when we first got married, and they blew up. I guess we should have peeled them first.
Jim
Pat in east TN
September 23, 2011 at 9:18 amI don’t have a clue either if it’s not a chestnut. I’m anxious for next week … I also like crows.
Mamabug
September 23, 2011 at 9:16 amDon’t have a clue; but it looks cool! Have a great weekend Tipper!
sandra
September 23, 2011 at 8:55 amlooks kind of like green sycamore ball but not quite. so no clue.
B. Ruth
September 23, 2011 at 8:43 amTipper,
Burrrrrr….uh, of the chestnut type maybe a chinkapin….
I just hate to have to eat crow…ha
Thanks Tipper,
kate
September 23, 2011 at 8:31 amThanks for the memories. I had not seen a chinkepin in years. Was told they were blighted out many years ago. We used to love eating them in the fall when they pop open. Over 75 years ago. Also roam the hills of s.w. Va. and found all kinds of things people today never hear about. We found a huge huckleberry patch we visited a lot. Did you ever see teaberries? Talk about something flavorful. I don’t know if this will go . I don’t do facebook , ect. none of that. kate
Miss Cindy
September 23, 2011 at 8:22 amWell, it’s green like the grass in the picture and it has a stem so it must be a live plant of some kind.
I think it’s a prickly green flower. You better put it in water before it wilts! LOL
Janet Smart
September 23, 2011 at 8:20 amDon’t know, but awaiting for your answer. It reminds me a little of the ‘tribbles’ on the old Star Trek TV show that took over their ship :o)
Bradley
September 23, 2011 at 8:20 amThis looks like a failed attempt at a cross pollination beween a chinkapin and a kiwi-fruit.
That can’t be right I know but, I hate it when I’m stumped.
I haven’t a clue what that thang is Tipper but, I bet it would be the devil peel.
Ed Ammons
September 23, 2011 at 8:01 amIs it a buckeye?
Uncle Al
September 23, 2011 at 7:50 amI haven’t a clue if its not a chestnut. Anxiously awaiting the revelation.
Karen Larsen
September 23, 2011 at 7:49 amYup– Chestnut. Or something masquerading as one!
Bill Burnett
September 23, 2011 at 7:47 amSome spell it Chinkapin, a member of the Chestnut family genus Castanea, but then I could be wrong. But it brings back a memory, my Dad was a great joker and was always throwing stuff to me then yelling catch (to improve my hand-eye coordination), one day I found a Chestnut Burr and threw it to him and yelled catch, well he caught it but failed to see the humor of the situation as they are easier to catch than to turn loose.
Rick Kratzke
September 23, 2011 at 7:44 amSorry, don’t have a clue?
Debby Brown
September 23, 2011 at 7:34 amnot a chestnut? Thats what I thought it was, so I’m real eager to find out what that thing is. My only other guess would be to call it an E.T.
Bill Burnett
September 23, 2011 at 7:31 amWouldn’t be a Chinquapin burr would it?
Jim Casada
September 23, 2011 at 7:23 amTipper–I would have wagered a $5 bill that this was a chestnut burr (or, more likely, a Chinese chestnut burr)with the bloom tassel from spring still attached. In fact, I could head out to my yard right now and take a photo which would look just like it. I know of nothing else from nature with a comparable burr (well, a chinquapin is similar but in much smaller form).
I guess I’ll just have to wait until I get an answer.
Jim Casada
http://www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com