This photo was taken during my March trip to Lake Tahoe. Can you identify the plant (family, genus, species), the structure shown, and its function? Answer and more photos tomorrow.
© Ted C. MacRae 2010
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Beetles In The Bush 
Curl-leaf Mountain Mahogany
ROSACEAE, Cercocarpus ledifolius
It’s a seed, shaped for wind dispersal.
peteryeeles beat me. But you shot that in March? That’s how ours (Utah) look in July/August…
It was just one of a few hangers-on. The plants are amazing in late summer when they are completely draped in the silvery sheen!
Not a seed, but a fruit, with a persistent stigma to aid in dispersal — not uncommon, but with many variants on the theme, in Rosaceae.
Quite right of course, James. I knew there would be consequences for dozing off in the botany lectures all those years ago.
I still have nightmares about all the (what seemed like thousands of) terms used to describe something as simple as a leaf margin…
I’ve got near 20 years as a practicing botanist and am still learning them. It’s a rich language.
Yes, this is Cercocarpus ledifolius (curl-leaf mountain mahogany) in the family Rosaceae – one of the few tree species missing from my Trees of Lake Tahoe series of last year. Nice job from an Aussie to swoop in and scarf up the points for the plant ID and function of the structure, while James salvaged the remaining points for the name of the structure itself.
More pics and info will be posted shortly.