Mysterious tree from Jerusalem

[Gyorgy Sajo]

Greetings,

On my last trip to Israel in October 2006 I saw a very interesting tree in a garden in Jerusalem. The tree itself did not look that special, but it had some very peculiar capsules which I collected from below the tree. I have since asked some botanist friends about it but they could not tell me what kind of tree it is.

If some of you could help me to identify this tree, I would be very thankful.

Here is a picture of the tree itself (it is the one with the grey bark in the middle):

here are two pictures of the capsules:

again, Gyorgy

[symplastless]

It appears to be a legume type tree of some sort.

I am interested in finding out what it is. I would be interested in a stem sample to place under the microscope. Is that possible. I could tell you a great deal about the tree if I had a sample.

[John McGaw]

A wild guess from this non-botanist: Brachychiton acerifolius. My guess is based on the appearance of the seed pod and the bark. A good picture of the leaves would pretty well verify this guess. This is a commonly grown garden tree in semi-arid areas around the world and when flowering it is spectacular since the flowers appear without the leaves to obscure them.

Don't forget, I warned you that this is a _wild_ guess!

[cat daddy]

I'd say pretty good wild guess, McGaw.

Brachychiton acerifolius

acerifolius populneus

[Gyorgy Sajo]

Wow! I bow my head before your expertise. Thank you John and cat daddy!

Gyorgy