The Silk Floss Tree

While scrounging around some berry bushes yesterday, (attempting to pick what had already been picked) we came across this gorgeous tree. 

The ground was covered in what looked like cottonwood “fluff” and upon further investigation, we discovered the tree was full giant snowballs! 

Seriously, do those not look like giant snowballs?  So, of course, we had to get our hands on one and take it apart. They looked so soft, and heaven help me, I can’t resist anything soft!

But the really good one’s were also really high.  No problem!  We’ll just climb it.

Except that every branch looked exactly like this.  This tree was the size of a mature oak and every single branch was covered in wicked thorns.  Not the annoying little rose bush variety. I’m talking about the one inch puncture wound kind!  So, of course, we didn’t climb.  Rather, we looked around on the ground until we figured out the cycle of it’s seed pod.  Yeah, I know, I’m a nerd.  Can’t help it.  I like to think of it as a  gift.  Instead of boring you with more details, I’ll just say it was truly fascinating!  So even though the berries were a flop, we had a great time discovering the Silk Floss Tree.