Are you referring to the blackish purple, ear shaped pods? If so these are from Enterolobium contortisiliquum. They are real easy to grow. Soak the seeds in water for a few days and plant. But as a word of caution, this is a giant tree and not suitable for the average yard. Make sure you have adequate space. In the right location these are gorgeous specimens and very exotic. But they have very wide spreading canopies and massive root systems. They grow very fast and can be weak wooded unless they are trained and pruned for good structure when young. That said, these are one of my favorite trees.

Do you mean soak the ear or open it to get seeds out?

Open the ear and get the seeds out.

THe seeds inside are vey hard...I found that if you take a freezer zip lock baggie and dampen a paper towel that is folded in half and place it inside the baggie...then place seeds on top of of the towel...getting most of the air out of the baggie and zip lock it. I placed my baggie on top of my computer tower for the heat...the seed started germination in about 4 days

Interesting....it's part of the pea family, but also considered invasive in Florida. Probably due to the prolific pods. I found a seed pod dragged into my yard apparently a raccoon had been chewing on.

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=ENCO2

no luck with them here,.....have a whole bag of ears...can't get them to start. will try soaking the rest....interesting tree!

I finally split open the ear and planted some seeds in soil in a pot. I have kept the soil very damp. I now have a tree about 12 inches tall with about 6 branches full of very soft leaves. It almost look like one of the plants you touch and the leaves close. I have it in full sun. Only one of the seeds took and I think I put 6 in the pot to start. Thanks everyone for your feedback.

A suggestion for those of you who have too many of these seed pods: gather them up and offer them to the nearest gourd artists or a crafter's group. Probably wouldn't hurt to nuke them briefly to kill their urge to reproduce and any creepy-crawlies that might be present. Crafters of all sorts actually BUY stuff like this. cora

Cora we are still waiting for gourd photos!!

You don't want a monkey ear tree! I PROMISE! It is the biggest pain in the butt tree I've ever seen. It drops the ears all over our car, lawn and house. I've been hit a couple times myself. It doesn't grow flowers, all it does it drop those seeds all over the place. And when you step on the ears, they stick to the bottom of your shoes and look like dog poop. If it didn't cost so much money I'd get the tree cut down. I LOVE trees and gardening, but this tree is nothing but a pain in the butt.

...yes, pretty tree, but horribly invasive! Grows insanely fast. Drops all the pods and each pod has the potential of becoming several new seedlings.

My neighbor had two and one's roots were slowly creeping into my yard. Think, "foundation uplifting roots".

I convinced her to remove both trees due to the invasive nature and small footprint of each of our yards.

Raccoons enjoy "playing" with the seed pods due to the rattle sound it makes. They will carry their 'toys' into your yard and become bored with them and leave them there to sprout.

I love this tree...We grew up with it at my childhood home...Huge speading canopy, like you'd see in Africa, and YES the roots are dangerous...don't plant anywhere near your home..Ours was probably 25 feet away and those roots...the kind that grow up and out of the soil made it to the house...The roots are cool because the poke up then go back down...It also closes at night..the way mimosa does...I always assumed it was a mimosa of some sort...Beautiful tree...a few are growing wild near me..hmmm maybe if they reseed that easy some babies are around....

I fund a seed pod In my backpack, get out a single seed and planted it In my greenhouse here in Denmark, now i have a little tree about 15 inch.
I have my tree standing in a bit of Water, alwayes moist.
I have a question.
How old is the tree, before it starts dropping seed pods.
I have my tree in a closede envoriment, and the seed pods that drops Will be collected.

This is the national tree of Costa Rica. It's decidedly a nuisance. I have literally thousands of these pods from a single tree; I can't imagine growing one in a closed environment. I'm wondering if there is some use (other than propagation) for these things, such as grinding them up for flour or fertilizer. The lateral branches are dry and lightweight, so they break off quite easily. I'd sell these pods on eBay but since it's classified as an invasive species, that's likely to violate some law or another.