Is That Some Kind of Mold?

Peeking out from beneath the wilted petunia flower in the photo above, is a seed pod from an Akebia quinata vine growing up a neighbor’s porch. If you can ignore the flower (my daughter gave it to me, after “rescuing” it from another neighbor’s yard — eek, sorry Neighbor), doesn’t the seed pod actually look like A Seed Pod? Here’s the fascinating thing: Apparently everyone who came in contact with this vine was taken aback and a bit horrified by the weird substance covering the vine — the mail carrier, the meter reader, the homeowner, friends, and children alike. By the time I walked up to the porch, there was only one pod left on the vine, and the homeowner was thrilled to report that it had just been identified by a local native landscaper as, indeed, a seed pod.

“Is that some kind of mold?” the mail carrier had asked. I am simply perplexed. When I look at this object, I see the pod and I see the seeds. There’s no question in my mind about what it IS. In fact, I think it’s one of the most remarkable seed pods I’ve ever seen! I’m troubled. I’m troubled that I may be one of the few people in my neighborhood who can peg a seed pod when I see one (I and that native landscaper). Maybe the pods are too sexy (they’re the vine’s mode of reproduction, after all) and people prefer to turn a blind eye to that sexiness? (Georgia O’Keefe would have a field day with these pods, I believe.) Maybe it’s just our culture’s deep disconnect from Nature that caused this seed pod misclassification? Maybe it’s both, plus a little more? Anyway, I’m here to say, “Let’s call a pod a pod!” Be on the lookout for someone mistaking a seed pod for mold, or a parasite, or garbage, or a hat, and then please tell ‘em what it actually is — a big, old, honking, gorgeous, sexy-beyond-belief seed pod.

(For more pictures of and info about the Akebia quinata vine, click here.)