Mountain Mahogany

Small tree that grows in very thick patches with dead trees standing throughout mixed with live trees. Small pale yellow flowers in spring with a wonderful spicey, almost cinnamon, fragrence that is noticable for quite a distance from the trees. These photos were taken in Sept while a few trees were covered with these seed pods, most did not have them at the time I was there, not sure if some produced them later or if just a few trees have them. I had never seen them with the pods before even though I've spent a lot of time in the areas where they grow for over 50 yrs.