My friends sent me a text on Saturday, asking me to identify this thing.  

 

I am always up for a horticultural challenge, so I started looking in my tree books.  There were lots of leaf pictures, and seed pod pictures, but not that many flower pictures.  And I have never seen these flowers before.  

 

They did their own great job of detective work.  They found a tree with the same flowers AND some baby leaves.  

 

Turns out it is Sweet Gum.  You know:  the gum ball tree.  Or as we like to call it:  Liquidambar styraciflua.  Sweet Gum.  

 

Good job, guys!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!