Greetings,

On my last trip to Israel in October 2006 I saw a very interesting tree in a
garden in Jerusalem. The tree itself did not look that special, but it had
some very peculiar capsules which I collected from below the tree. I have
since asked some botanist friends about it but they could not tell me what
kind of tree it is.

If some of you could help me to identify this tree, I would be very
thankful.

Here is a picture of the tree itself (it is the one with the grey bark in
the middle):

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c286/gyury/Tree01.jpg

....and here are two pictures of the capsules:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c286/gyury/Tree02.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c286/gyury/Tree03.jpg

Thanks again,
Gyorgy