unknown tree with cluster of seeds on long stem.
pinnately compound leaves (I think)
found in mt. pleasant cemetery, aug. 31/24
thx for your help
Thank you for your question. Mount Pleasant Cemetery has a wonderful collection of trees and is a popular walking and running route. I believe the tree you have found is a Caucasian Wingnut (Pterocarya fraxinifolia).
A description on the Missouri Botanical Garden website states: “Pterocarya fraxinifolia, commonly called Caucasian wingnut, is native from the Caucasus to northern Iran. It gets its interesting name from its fruit. After spring flowering, small green winged nutlets develop in the female catkins in early summer, forming pendulous strings to 20” long. Nutlets mature to brown in late summer to early fall, often persisting on the tree into winter. This is a deciduous tree in the walnut family that typically grows 30-60’ (less frequently to 90’) tall with a rounded, broad-spreading habit. Compound, odd-pinnate leaves grow to 18” long. Each leaf contains 7 to 27, ovate to oblong-lanceolate, sharply-toothed, glossy dark green leaflets (2-5” long). Undistinguished yellow-green fall color. Non-showy, monoecious light green flowers appear in pendulous catkins in late spring (May-June). Female catkins to 20” long. Male catkins to 5” long.”
For comparison with your photo, several good photos of the leaves and flower catkins are found here.
You may be interested in finding out more about the trees of Mount Pleasant Cemetery. You can download a PDF from the Mount Pleasant Cemetery website called Arboretum Book. Incidentally, the Caucasian Wingnut can be found on page 3 of the booklet.