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I just found one of the strangest little seeds I have ever seen. Its a tiny green "fruit" of sorts that smell quite a bit like an apple but has the shape of a pear. I am really curious if anyone has any idea what this thing is, to give you an idea size wise it is about the size of a marble. I live in Northeastern Illinois near the Indiana border, and if this turns out to be something that could grow here I might try to plant it in my garden. So any ideas about what this is would be of great help!
Limequat most likely wouldn't survive a Chicago winter. There aren't many really cold-hardy citrus. However, all citrus have a distinct appearance - leathery rind pitted with citrus oil glands, and the segmented berry-with-membranes interior. Trifolate orange and ichang papeda are two citrus (with extremely unappetizing fruits!) that would survive a Chicago winter. If that were the case, citrus tend to be thorny and their leaves are very fragrant (citrus oil) when rubbed, so those would be distinguishing marks.
If it's fleshy/crisp, with seeds in a core or sac in the center, then it's an apple relative: perhaps something immature. The apple family includes (apart from apples) pears, rowan, mayhaw/hawthorn, crabapple, quince, loquat, serviceberry. Most of those would grow in Chicago - not loquats, and I'm not sure about mayhaws either.
If it's fleshy/crisp with a large single seed at the center, it might be a jujube, which is rare in the US, but will survive serious cold. Jujubes are usually more round, but when unripe, they are crisp, kind of like a small, dense apple with the lone big seed. Jujubes tend to be small, very thorny trees, so that would be a distinguishing quality.
Some kind of dwarf pawpaw, perhaps?
I wouldn't chow down on it without knowing what it is, just in case it's something inedible.
Looks like Harry Chickpea may have hit the nail on the head. Good job.
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