Sweet gum tree, Genus "Liquidamder," in Winter. This tree in Riverheads Grangbel Park has long dropped its ball shaped seed pods. If you look closely, you can see the dark balls around the tree. These balls are bright green in the growing season, but turn brown and open up to release their tiny seeds in late Fall early Winter.
Seed balls in the growing season.
These brown seed balls are very hard and prickly. Something to avoid barefoot in Spring.
sources... Wikipedia & duckduckgo.com