this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2026
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Mildly Interesting

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Our acorn tree dropped all of its blossom-thingies within a few hours (infosec.pub)
submitted 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) by Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 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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[–] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 3 hours ago (2 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.

[–] 8oow3291d@feddit.dk 4 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 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.

[–] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

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! :-)

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] Multiplexer@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 hour ago

Maple trees do not produce flowers

But according to Wikipedia, they do?