Many factors must interact perfectly to disperse the seeds efficiently without destroying the plant too early.

New research into the biomechanics of explosive seed dispersal in squirting cucumbers (Ecballium elaterium) reveals how these ...

Join Alessandro and me as we explore my garden and discuss the seeds of a highly unusual and sometimes dangerous cucumber.

Squirting cucumbers blast their seeds over distances hundreds of times their length, and now scientists have solved the mystery of how the plants do it.

When it is ripe, the squirting cucumber will detach from the stem and shoot out its seeds in a high-pressure jet of mucus. In only 30 milliseconds , it can send its seeds about 65-feet-per second.

The seeds of a squirting cucumber can reach distances of about 33 feet away from the mother plant. Dominic Vella. Recently, researchers blew this ballistic mystery wide open.