SUBURBAN HELICOPTER ASSAULT:

Maple seed problems are spiraling (DAN ROZEK, May 25, 2004, Chicago Sun-Times)

Rain isn't the only thing coming down more heavily than usual. The Chicago area also is being inundated by an unusual bumper crop of maple seeds that have been helicoptering down, clogging gutters, making a mess of patios and porches -- and delighting children.

"It is a banner year for seeds,'' said Peter Bristol, curator of woody plants at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe. "They're big and falling all over the place.''

The familiar pods -- a seed connected to a 1- to 2-inch curved wing that causes it to whirl to the ground in a distinctive way -- begin twisting down out of maples every May.

But some years, for reasons scientists say aren't entirely understood, the trees spawn more of the seeds than usual.

That's what's happening now, apparently triggered in part by a dry and warm April, the time when many trees begin flowering. That breezy, dry weather helped spread pollen more readily -- and widely -- between maples.

The pollen fertilized the flowering maples, producing an abundance of seeds, which then twirl out of the tree looking to put down roots and grow into a new tree.

"I think all the conditions are right for seed production this year,'' Bristol said.

The helicopter assault is particularly heavy in long-established suburbs on the North Shore, where maple trees are especially common.

Do you suppose kids still split them at the bottom and stick them on their noses?

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 25, 2004 10:43 AM