I have been sent the attached seedpods but my friend does not know what they are. I have suggested Lunaria but he says no. He said his mother had a shrub about 2 meters tall in Surrey. This is how he describes it ... "This is not a flat seed pod like Honesty but is balloon like and they used to pop when squeezed between our fingers. From my (bad) memory the small flowers were either white or very pale yellow. My Mum grew it as a bush and I recall that it had white or yellow blossom which later produced a seed pod that I can only describe as balloon like. Balloon as in blown out but was actually elongated rather than round. We used to enjoy making them pop between our fingers." He got these seedpods from the Rhine Valley, Germany in October. They are 4-6cms long. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Just looked that up Sal and the seeds appear to be round and bi-coloured whereas the ones I have are flat and black.
Looks like False Senna to me. We had one and the children used to love popping the inflated seed pods. Coronilla emerus
Thank you one and all ... I sent the names to my friend and he has confirmed that he believes it is the Colutea arborescens and would like to thank you all for assistance in identifying this shrub and he is looking forward to getting the seeds going ... as am I! I see it is closely related to my Senna didymobotrya which I have never had seedpods on ... had I then I might have had a clue.
I'd stick with the Senna/Cassia, Victoria. It looks a much more interesting plant to me, just not hardy enough to grow here, although colutea is.
