Any idea what this is; seeds, insect eggs? - Ask Extension
I found this in my woods a few days ago. There are a lot of them at the base of a tree. The main pile in the photo covers about a 2 ft x 2 ft. square;...
Knowledgebase
Any idea what this is; seeds, insect eggs? #555656
Asked April 24, 2019, 9:07 PM EDT
I found this in my woods a few days ago. There are a lot of them at the base of a tree. The main pile in the photo covers about a 2 ft x 2 ft. square; so hundreds if not a thousand. These are roughly the size of a BB. Hard, blue black. round. I cut one of them with a knife, Different color inside but does not appear to be as dense as the outside. Should I be concerned? If they are seeds they must have come from quite a distance as I spend a lot of time outdoors and never seen anything like it.
Alger County Michigan
Expert Response
I ran this one by one entomologist and two wild life biologists. None of us are coming up with anything concrete. The entomologist says these are not insect related. Suggestions from all are that a rodent of some kind created a cache of seeds from a plant with fruits last fall and when the snow melted, this is what is left. One thing you could do is try planting some of them to see if they germinate. I know of several plants with round, black seeds but none that large. Most of the plants that have fruit that looks like this are fleshy, and would have rotted away by now. We were all tossing around Elderberry as a possibility, but their seeds are more flattened and not that dark. Sorry to not be more help.
Well, it's pretty fun when you solve a mystery-- and my colleagues have done just that. This seed is from the wild leek, also known as ramp. (search for images of the seeds) One of the biologists found a short video from the US Fisheries and Wildlife dept. that shows how they grow-- fascinating! Try this link.
