By Amy Weiss

Sep 26 2019

Getting help is great, but sometimes you just have to do something yourself. Many plants have evolved ways to mechanically disperse their seeds or spores.

The squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium, shown above) uses a build up of internal pressure and liquid in their fruits to spray their seeds into the air.¹ Similarly, touch-me-nots (Impatiens species) are aptly named because anything touching a ripe fruit causes the capsule to rapidly split open, flinging out the seeds.¹  

Some plants can not only launch their seeds into their air, but these seeds come equipped with awns that respond to moisture by coiling and uncoiling (Erodium cicutarium).² The coiling allows the seeds to both creep over the substrate and, upon finding a crevice, bury themselves by twisting into the ground like a screw.

Click on the herbarium specimens below to see examples of plants that use ballistic dispersal.