Is there such a thing as "weirwood fruit?"

[Phylum of Alexandria]

Leaf and the other CotF bring Bran a paste that they say is made from weirwood seeds.

But we never hear about weirwoods bearing fruit (or flowering for that matter), right?

So where are these seeds being taken from? Is the paste made from something else, and Leaf is not being honest?

Are the seeds found in the leaves, which are crushed up like the Essosi Shade of the Evening trees to make that blue hallucinogenic liquor?

Just wondering!

[Canon Claude]

5 minutes ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

Leaf and the other CotF bring Bran a paste that they say is made from weirwood seeds.

But we never hear about weirwoods bearing fruit (or flowering for that matter), right?

So where are these seeds being taken from? Is the paste made from something else, and Leaf is not being honest?

Are the seeds found in the leaves, which are crushed up like the Essosi Shade of the Evening trees to make that blue hallucinogenic liquor?

Just wondering!

Many trees can produce seeds without bearing fruits. Fruits aren’t a requirement in that regard. And given the climate that weirwoods have grown in, I would be surprised if they produced any fruits.

[Phylum of Alexandria]

Still, I would like to learn more about these seeds. Where on the weirwood body are they extracted?

I'm particularly interested for in-story reasons, as I don't think the weirwoods are actually plants. 

[Phylum of Alexandria]

8 minutes ago, Canon Claude said:

Many trees can produce seeds without bearing fruits. Fruits aren’t a requirement in that regard. And given the climate that weirwoods have grown in, I would be surprised if they produced any fruits.

Still, I would like to learn more about these seeds. Where on the weirwood body are they extracted?

I'm particularly interested for in-story reasons, as I don't think the weirwoods are actually plants. 

[Corvo the Crow]

18 minutes ago, Phylum of Alexandria said:

Leaf and the other CotF bring Bran a paste that they say is made from weirwood seeds.

But we never hear about weirwoods bearing fruit (or flowering for that matter), right?

So where are these seeds being taken from? Is the paste made from something else, and Leaf is not being honest?

Are the seeds found in the leaves, which are crushed up like the Essosi Shade of the Evening trees to make that blue hallucinogenic liquor?

Just wondering!

If there are, I wonder what they are called. "Little Grandpa"s perhaps?

[Phylum of Alexandria]

12 minutes ago, Corvo the Crow said:

If there are, I wonder what they are called. "Little Grandpa"s perhaps?

I for one think that Jojen has not yet been sacrificed. Bran woke tasting blood from the sacrifice in the past because the weirwood he inhabited had soaked it in, and presumably it also eventually runs through to the seeds as well.

But Jojen's pretty much guaranteed to die, probably in the next Bran chapter.

[Gilbert Green]

A weirwood bleeds sap and has 5-pointed leaves like a maple.  The "fruit" of most kinds of maples is a dual winged pod -- a "helicopter".  The seeds of the helicopter are edible.

[Gilbert Green]

3 hours ago, Canon Claude said:

Many trees can produce seeds without bearing fruits. Fruits aren’t a requirement in that regard. And given the climate that weirwoods have grown in, I would be surprised if they produced any fruits.

In botany, "fruit" refers to the seed-bearing structure of flowering plants.  The "fruit" of the oak is the acorn, typically containing a single seed or nut.  But in common language we tend to associate "fruit" with fleshy structures, such as apples, pears, and berries; not to mention lemons.  So your answer is correct, under the common meaning.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Gilbert Green

[Ring3r]

Fruit are seeds (fertilized eggs) that the plant has covered in calorie rich sugar to tempt animals to eat, so they can poop them out somewhere else and the seed will then grow with a ready supply of fertilizer....

For that matter, pollen is literally just sperm.  When everything starts pollinating and you get that film of pollen settling on the windows of your car that you have to use your windshield wiper fluid to clear off...yup.  Your car is completely covered in sperm.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Ring3r

[Gilbert Green]

Bloodraven compares the life cycle of the weirwood to "oak and acorn, acorn and oak". 

Despite being more like maples in some way, weirwoods are analogous to oaks, since oaks are the long-lived mystical trees of the ancient druids.  Westerosi history parallels British history, in many ways.

Acorns, when used as food, are typically processed as a paste, due to the need to leech out toxins.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Gilbert Green

[Gilbert Green]

11 minutes ago, Ring3r said:

Fruit are seeds that the plant has covered in calorie rich sugar to tempt animals to eat, so they can poop them out somewhere else and the seed will then grow with a ready supply of fertilizer....

Strategy varies.  Acorns are harvested and buried by squirrels.  For food, of course.  But inevitably a few of these squirrels are going to get caught by  predators, and their buried acorns will be abandoned, and may develop into a new tree a considerable distance from the parent.

And of course, maple helicopters are designed to be carried by the wind.

[Ring3r]

2 hours ago, Gilbert Green said:

Strategy varies.  Acorns are harvested and buried by squirrels.  For food, of course.  But inevitably a few of these squirrels are going to get caught by  predators, and their buried acorns will be abandoned, and may develop into a new tree a considerable distance from the parent.

And of course, maple helicopters are designed to be carried by the wind.

Of course.  Species vary.  I just figured it would be fun to point out to everyone with allergies that the source of their sneezing was an allergy to plant sperm.

I'm allergic to everything, even grass, so I figure it's all fair game.

Edited December 2, 2022 by Ring3r

[Sandy Clegg]

Well if you have two weirwood trees standing together, then I guess that's a pear 

[Bowen 747]

They probably produce pods.  The pods contain the seeds.  The seeds fall and germinate.  The Starks and the First Men murder their victims and fertilize the young trees with human blood.  The red sap of the trees are human blood, the blood of the sacrificial victims. 

[Phylum of Alexandria]

I guess I suddenly found it quite striking that we have this series in which seasons are heavily emphasized, and this magical tree features quite prominently in the culture, yet we only get one reference to the weirwood seeds, and it's in Book 5.

No lines like "The fallen weirwood seeds popped and squished under their feet and left a crimson trail in the mud."

Something doesn't smell right. Or maybe that's the weirwood paste.

[Evolett]

This thread has a lot of interesting discussion and good ideas on how weirwoods might reproduce: