Pam Moore wrote:
:: On Tue, 2 Nov 2004 19:11:38 +0000, Alan Gould
:: wrote:
::
:::
::: A friend in Worcs. sent me two seed pod heads of a plant he
::: wishes to identify. The plant grows among crops at a farm near to
::: Evesham. He says it has a yellow flower a bit like that of a
::: cucumber and it grows to about 2 ft. tall. The farmer says that
::: it has appeared annually 'since his father's day' and he thinks
::: it may be a relic from a latterday crop. The heads are oval rugby
::: ball shaped, about 5cm./2ins. tall x 3cm./1.25 ins. dia. The
::: shell resembles that of a young horse-chestnut, softish mid-green
::: pith lined flesh, very spiky and in four lateral segments. Inside
::: the shell are hundreds of tiny 3mm./0.15ins. dia. smartie shaped
::: seeds similar in colour and texture to that of chestnuts. The
::: heads have grown on stiff 0.6cm./0.25ins. dia. hollow fibrous
::: stems. Leaf material on the stems was too deteriorated to provide
::: any detail.
:::
::: Possibly in the Arctium or Cirsium families? TIA.
::
iris pseudacorus var?

I've no idea about latin names or anything like that but they sound exactly
like the fruit of Iris ...is the feild waterlogged in places?
I noticed a few weeks ago while fishing that these 'bananas' split open and
drop their seeds into the water at about this time of year..the closest
picture I could find to the one's i'm thinking of, is he
http://www.pondplants.co.uk/images/p...acorus_var.jpg
and
http://www.sugarcreekgardens.com/IrisPseVariegata.jpg