What is this wierd thing?

[mushroombrew]

I found this growing on a small tree here in northwest georgia.* I like the neat looking seed pods, but I want to know if it's a nice looking vine or just a weed.* The pods are brown and hard and are full of hundreds of winged seeds.* Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Newt]

Hi Mushroombrew,

It would be most helpful to know if the vine had any leaves on it.* Your seedpod and seeds look like several vines that come to mind.* I'm also wondering if it was growing on a tree in a garden or wild in the woods.

Campsis radicans aka trumpet vine, which is native to the US, would be my first guess.* Unfortunately this vine was planted in my garden when I arrived.* It was the last to leaf out in the spring and the first to drop it's leaves in the fall.* It's root system can be VERY invasive in a garden, popping up as much as 30' or more from the parent plant.
http://theseedsite.co.uk/seed68.gif
http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioima...a2-frb5076.htm
http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioima...a2-fr17397.htm
http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioima...seeds17401.htm
http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioima...cies/cara2.htm

Bignonia capreolata aka crossvine is native, but from the pliers in your photo (most folks use a coin like a quarter for size comparison), the seed is too large.
http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioima...rseed30632.htm
http://theseedsite.co.uk/seed4.gif
http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioima...a--fr30622.htm
http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioima...ecies/bica.htm
*
Podranea ricasoliana aka pink trumpet vine.* Native to South Africa with glossy leaves.* Would be evergreen in zone 9, but most of Georgia is either zone 7 or 8, so could have dropped it's leaves by now.* Grown by gardeners in the US.* The seed pod appears to be too big to be yours.
http://theseedsite.co.uk/seed30.gif
http://www.hear.org/starr/plants/ima...?q=030711-0008
http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantnop/podranricasol.htm

The small pictures of seeds came from this site.
http://theseedsite.co.uk/seedsize20.html
http://theseedsite.co.uk/seedpods.html

If you have pictures of any leaves, flowers or the entire vine it would be most helpful.* Knowing if it was growing in someone's garden or in the wild would also help.

Newt

[mushroombrew]

It's the trumpet vine.* :)* Thank you!!!!

I didn't have my camera handy when i grabbed this, but there wasn't much to see anyway.* The tree was a small (7-10ft) dogwood.* It just had a wavy brown vine curled up the trunk and into the branches.* The base of the vine was about as thick as my index finger.* It had already dropped all of its leaves and frankly looked dead.* I'm not planning on planting anything in a garden setting.* I just want to "reforest" my property with pretty vines and natural (not ornamental) trees from seed around my area.* I was gathering tree seeds when i found this.* It was in the wild.* Kudzu is a real problem here so I didn't want to plant anything thats going to go 'ape on my property.* :)* I'd like it to make pretty flowers and such.* I really appreciate your help!

[Newt]

Mushroombrew, you are so very welcome!* From your description I suspect that was an ornamental vine and not a native.* Since the leaves had fallen, it was probably a tropical vine hardy to zone 9 at the most.* I still find some Campsis radicans aka trumpet vine in my zone 7 garden and they still have their leaves.

I applaud you for wanting to plant native plants.* If you need links on where to find info, seeds, plants or more just lmk.

Newt