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Home Science Biology

Smithsonian slow motion video shows plant’s explosive birth

The guys over at the Smithsonian Channel run a great show about plants. One of the recent short videos they posted online show how violets, touch me nots, and squirting cucumbers employ an impressive ballistic seed dispersal mechanism.

Alexandru Micu by Alexandru Micu
June 14, 2015
in Biology, Videos
Reading Time: 1 min read
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The guys over at the Smithsonian Channel run a great show about plants. One of the recent short videos they posted online show how violets, touch me nots, and squirting cucumbers employ an impressive ballistic seed dispersal mechanism.

https://youtu.be/NsIojj4PzAo

In the case of violets, the explosive mechanism of the pods relies on turgor pressure (specialized plant cells absorbing water until their membrane collapses) to provide the bang needed to launch a new generation of seeds to life.

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Another mechanism that plants use is called dehiscence, the splitting at maturity along a built-in line of weakness in a plant structure in order to release its contents.

 

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Tags: Explosive cucumberExplosive podsTouch me notViolet
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Alexandru Micu

Alexandru Micu

Stunningly charming pun connoisseur, I have been fascinated by the world around me since I first laid eyes on it. Always curious, I'm just having a little fun with some very serious science.

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