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!).

Acorn tree.

Damn!

Classical "false friend" type error.

The tree is named "Ahorn" in my mother tongue (German). 😆

And those 'blossom-thingies' are called ... flowers.

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.

Do you have a neighbor named Aureliano? If so, check on his family

Not that I know of...

Why?

Is this some kind of insider reference or should l go and have a look at the door bell nameplates of the neighbouring buildings for some reason?

I upvoted for the false friend explanation. Thank you for tickling my language nerd gland in such a pleasing way.

l guess I managed to pack two mildly interesting topics into one post by accident. :-)

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

When a tree sneezes!

I, too, always have difficulties calling these thingies flowers! Blossom is actually the prefered term for trees I believe? Some of them just don't look flowery at all.

What caused the rapid fall? Wind?

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.

It's a reference to "100 Years of Solitude". >!When the patriarch José Arcadio Buendía dies, yellow flowers rain all over the streets of his town!<

Trees are great!

What caused the rapid fall? Wind?

We had a weather change from very warm and sunny to colder and rainy over night.
That might have played a role here.

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! :-)

Maple trees do not produce flowers

But according to Wikipedia, they do?

Canadian here. Yea bud you triggered me there eh. That's fer sure a maple. I just helped my buddy tap a few maple trees couple weeks back.

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

But your username also gives me slight vibes you might have some affiliation with the German language... ;-)

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.

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

That's tree jizz

There should be a false fremd.

When a tree sneezes real good

Morning after pill should always be an option. What if one of those had turned into another tree? Think about it! This tree is just being responsible by not bringing another tree into the world whe they are not ready for the commitment.

This thread is why acorns should be called oak nuts

This thread has evolved into one about linguistics, so I opt for them to be called eggcorns.

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

Growing up we called them helicopters because of the way they'd spin while falling. As an adult I'm more likely to think "welp, the tree shit all over the driveway again." Lol

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.

Ha well German is my second language

The helicopters are the seeds during autumn though.

The things in the picture are apparently the flower petals the tree throws when not needing them any more.

The helicopters are fun.
Not only the way they fall, but we also used to open them up and stick them to our noses.

As an adult l am more divided: still somehow like them, but don't like having to remove dozens of maple saplings from our garden each year...

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.

And as "Blume" is pronounced almost identical to "bloom" (only a tiny addon sound at the ending), we have yet another promising false-friend-candidate! :-)

Anyone else's OCD marveling in the almost squareness of the drop whilst also trying to figure the floor vrs the drop?

Only to figure its just the paving lines.

Wow, I'll have to look out up. None of the maples in my region do.

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.

"Blossom" is definitely commonly used in American English, just not nearly as frequently as "flower".

Perhaps they have not been through puberty yet... ;-)

Me: Acorn tree? So an oak tree? Zooms in those aren't oak leaves.

OP: okay so I just found out how wrong I was.

Those are, pardon my french: kittens.

EDIT: they are german kittens auch! Unglaublich (^_^)

I called them both helicopter and "pinch-nose" (pince-nez) cause you can open the seed pocket that is sticky and place your nose in place of the side. But that is not what is on the picture.

Aren't those here Kätzchen/kittens?

Those grow on willows, so wrong type of tree.

Ohhh... You can't say that for other long blossom thingies? Too bad.

Well these are french "chaton" :

Yet according to de.wiktionary.org/wiki/Kätzchen :

windbestäubter Blütenstand (ähnlich einer Ähre) an Bäumen und Sträuchern

So not only from willows at least in some context.

Quite a few angiosperms have inconspicuous flowers. All grasses have flowers, but on most species you'll never see them unless you're studying them with a magnifying glass

Interesting!
Up to now only heard of the "Weidenkätzchen"...

But it's not the type the maple-flowers are.

You really can spend so much of your time learning about plants and barely ever know anything about them.