Red maple seeds or just flowers?

[Low Altitude]

Well it's spring , so it's time for me to get crazy ideas about growing trees from seed again.

This time, I'm thinking of making a fool of myself with these:

I've been wrong plenty of times like this before, but they were carpeting the ground under a red maple, they are red, so I'm inclined to think they are related.

They are about ½ inch / 1 cm long and look like tiny florets:

So the question is, and forgive my ignorance, is there a seed in there somewhere? That's usually how it works, but what do i know?

If they are seeds, do they need any kind of conditioning, or can I plant them right now?

Thanks All,

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Flowers, maple has helicopter type winged seeds, go back in Autumn.

 

[Low Altitude]

Thanks Oliver! Much obliged.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Thinking about tree seeds, there are two main sorts of trees, those like maple and birch which produce seeds that can travel (Birch seeds are very small and fluffy, so also wind blown), these are the sort of seeds that grow on 'new' land, the sort of place where there has been a landslide for example. They are also the ones that pop up in built up areas, they restart the foresting process. Then there are ones like beech which are forest trees, their seeds don't go far and if the forest expands it is by growing slowly round the edges. Oaks are a bit odd, they are basically forest trees, but magpies and squirrels bury acorns in rough grassland and they can do well as single trees, which true forest trees don't really, they like the protection of a forest canopy.
Trees also produce a heck of a lot of flowers per sq yard compared to most things, bees love the ones with nectar, which results in a lot more seeds than most plants. Most, of course, die before they germinate, and many more before the mature, but this time of year you should be able to find tree seedlings places they won't survive human activity, hoeing, walking, mowing etc. They will be the ones with a pair of larger seed leaves, might be fun to collect a few of them and see what sort of trees they turn into.

 

[Low Altitude]

Oliver,

You should write some kind of magazine column where you explain things to the 'general reader'. In ~250 words you've just organised into one coherent whole: things that I learned at school (O-level Botany, believe it or not); things I've heard from other people, from my parents to chance encounters; things I've read incidentally and my own scatty observations. It all now makes so much more sense. Thank you!

This spring, I will now keep my eyes open – and have some idea what I'm seeing and what I'm looking for!

Thank you so much!

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I am well into writing, mainly short stories. Over lockdown I started recording them. There are a whole bunch of my stories, and a couple of traditional ones, on my YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIfrjavewvS-nVvpdMc4NeA/featured . Click on 'Videos' and you see the full list of about fifty of them, anything from two or three minutes to just over three quarters of an hour.

 

[Low Altitude]

Oliver, my word! Terrific! I've sampled a few and look forward to more when time permits. A question, though: much as it's great to see you and I enjoy the atmosphere conveyed by your timbre, are some of the pieces available to read? I read more quickly than, er, listen...

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Some years ago I self published a book called 'A Read for the Train' with Lulu. I don't know if it is still available, but they work on the basis of print on demand so I don't see why not. Of course there is more on the YouTube channel because there is stuff I have done since and there are also a few traditional stories. From curiosity, any idea where might I put them on the web in written form?

 

[Low Altitude]

I just checked. It seems you have several options. Here's what came up when I googled self-publish "short stories"

self-publish "short stories" - Google Search

www.google.com

Best of luck! Let us know how it goes!