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While walking in a public garden in the UK Midlands, I came across some pretty, tulip-like foliage (but larger than that of most tulips). From the center there were some dried flower-stalks, with seedpods and seeds as pictured below.

It is strange that inside the seedpods, there is a yellow sphere and what looks like some yellow small seeds. Can anyone identify the (general species) of the plant in question?

Edit 1: Here is a size comparison photo, with one quarter, 10p, one euro, one real, one lev, and one AAA battery. Also featuring the larger green seedpod.

[1]: https://i.stack.imgur.com/xcQVn.jpgenter image description here!enter image description here

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    do you have a picture of the plant it came from?
    – black thumb
    Aug 1, 2018 at 20:15
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    Could you send another picture with a penny for scale?
    – stormy
    Aug 1, 2018 at 20:20
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    Is this seed pod one that while green will explode when squeezed?
    – stormy
    Aug 1, 2018 at 20:23
  • This could also be radish seed pod. Have you planted any radish this year or rather last year?
    – stormy
    Aug 1, 2018 at 20:26
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    It would be much more useful to see a picture of the whole plant with the seed pods in situ, rather than removed in this way, is it possible to go back and get a photo of them? If not, what do you mean by 'pretty' and 'larger than tulips' - longer? broader? variegated leaves? were the seedpods held in clusters on a long stalk, or on individual stalks? How tall was the stalk which held the pods? Were the leaves stiff or floppy?
    – Bamboo
    Aug 1, 2018 at 20:34

2 Answers 2

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I think the big round yellow ball is one of the seeds in the seed pod, that for some reason didn't dry up at the same rate as the other ones, and is still in its fresh, round, non-wrinkly state.

But what plant are these from? ... Looking forward to seeing the photo of it, but for now, I agree that in a public garden, it's not likely to be a radish plant. Irises do have seed pods structured something like your picture:

iris pod with dried seeds. From https://plantxing.com/2013/09/10/how-to-cross-bearded-irises/.

Perhaps some iris relative might be likely to have leaves something like tulips' but larger, and to have yellow seeds inside the seed pods ?

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  • Irises seem most likely. Should I still go back for a photo of the plant, for posterity's sake? Re stormy's comment, putblic gardens here (that I know of) don't offer veggie plots to people.
    – Simon_Peterson
    Aug 2, 2018 at 9:25
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    @Simon_Peterson, if it's not a lot of trouble, I think we all enjoy photos of plants! (PS thanks for the various interesting size references on the earlier pod picture)
    – Lorel C.
    Aug 2, 2018 at 15:02
  • Grins! No kidding kudos on the overkill scale stuff!!! Seriously, definitions of terms are tough when we are talking to people around the world! The only time I hear of public gardens are about chunks of land that are offered to those who have no land to grow food. 30 years ago I would never imagined I'd be trying to help people garden over this dang internet about something so tactile, so complex, so tough to NOT TOUCH!!
    – stormy
    Aug 3, 2018 at 2:19
  • I also like the IRIS pod ID.
    – stormy
    Aug 3, 2018 at 2:21
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radish seed pods

Imagine those pods all dried up, not green. I am assuming the scale and it looks like radish seeds. I have absolutely no idea what that yellow sphere is, perhaps a mutant seed?

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    Not likely to be radish in a Public Garden, though I'm assuming Public means municipal, not a private garden open to the public temporarily...
    – Bamboo
    Aug 1, 2018 at 20:43
  • Yes, it was a municipal garden. +1 for the similarity - the seeds do look like radish ones. But it probably wasn't that....
    – Simon_Peterson
    Aug 1, 2018 at 21:42
  • I imagine municipal gardens to be public vegey gardens. Where one can sign up for a 'patch' of soil to grow what they don't have room to grow at home.
    – stormy
    Aug 2, 2018 at 5:45

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