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@adroit
The London Plane tree
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_plane
also produces a very fine hair on newly emerging leaves, which wear off as the leaves age, then they fill the air and cause serious eye throat and lung irritation in some people. The seed pods which are what the photo is of appear later in the year (they are on the trees now) and when they fall on pavements they get broken up by crushing under foot and tyre. If the weather is dry, they can cause a further irritant. When I was a kid we used to put them down the back of peoples shirts, they were known as itchy balls.
botany lesson over