the sweetgum ball

I feel as though I've extracted a lot of mileage out of this small fruit today - a sweetgum ball (Liquidambar styraciflua), as identified by Carolyn Williams.  There are lots of them on the ground near my office - and on line there's a lot of discussion about how you can turn your ankle by treading on one awkwardly, or, for that matter, gather them up en masse and use them to deter slugs.  Or - ditto - deter rabbits.  Or use them as Organic Decorations.  Or put them at the bottom of planters.  I suspect that I'm going to leave them where they are ...