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Our acorn tree dropped all of its blossom-thingies within a few hours (discuss.tchncs.de)
submitted 6 months ago by to c/mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world
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Edit:
Just realized the correct name for the tree is actually maple.

False friend caused mistake because its name is "Ahorn" in German.
Keeping the heading as it is, because it is funny, although it might trigger the Canadians (sorry, dudes!).

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[–] [S] 19 points 6 months ago (19 children)

Does the term "flower" apply to trees, though?

Besides, the dropped stuff seemed only to be a part of the blossoms that I didn't knew the name for.
Rest of the blossom constructs stayed on the tree.

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  • [–] 24 points 6 months ago* (10 children)

    Does the term “flower” apply to trees, though?

    Yes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flowering_plant

    Besides, the dropped stuff seemed only to be a part of the blossoms that I didn’t knew the name for.

    Flower petals.

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  • [–] [S] 23 points 6 months ago* (9 children)

    Thanks!

    So, TIL that the English term "flower" is used in a much broader sense than its supposed direct German translation "Blume".

    Nobody in Germany would say a tree has flowers (Blumen), but that it has blossoms (Blüten).
    And "Flowering Plants" are also named "Blütenpflanzen" ("Blossom Plants").

    So saying "tree flowers" sounds really, really odd to me.
    Like someone calling a jumping frog "a flying frog".

    So thanks for the explanation, would never have guessed that by myself but will now use it in all my future tree-related discussions! :-)

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  • [–] 14 points 6 months ago

    In English, in my opinion at least, "flower" describes the inflorescence at any point in its growth cycle, while "blossom" describes the flower at its fullest development. More often though, "blossom" is used as a verb meaning to bloom or to develop.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (4 children)

    "Blossom" essentially means "flower". It's just not used as often. At least not in American English.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 6 months ago* (2 children)

    I knew it from things like "cherry blossom", meaning "Kirschblüte", so have always assumed "blossom" to be used in completely the same way as "Blüte".
    Same for "Blume"/"flower".
    Turns out, both assumptions have been wrong.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Well since it's english and we borrow and mash everything around and together: we say that flowers and trees 'bloom' when they produce blossoms.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    I usually say ‘blossoms’ for trees though it can sometimes imply blossoming IE new flowers in English

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  • [–] -2 points 6 months ago (7 children)

    Maple trees do not produce flowers, but many other types of trees do.

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  • [–] 10 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    Maple trees are angiosperms and definitely produce flowers. They may not be showy, but they're there

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago (2 children)

    Interesting, thank you. I guess I should instead say, then, that I have never seen any flowers on any maple trees and I have seen tons of maple trees. But I didn't know that. I'll have to do some reading. I love plants. You could study them all day every day and die knowing so little about them.

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Maple trees do not produce flowers

    But according to Wikipedia, they do?

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