Exploding Cucumbers! | Slo Mo #36 | BBC Earth Explore

Plants are awesome too! We have filmed a lot of animals on Slo Mo for BBC Earth Explore, so we thought it was about time that some plants got a look in, and we were pretty blown away with the results!

Sam and Si look at Himalayan balsam and the squirting cucumber, revealing in super slow motion hot these two incredible plants spread their seeds using high pressure mechanisms.

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[BBCEarthExplore]

And now for Slo Mo Thursday – some of the best seed dispersal on Earth, in super slow motion. Includes exploding cucumbers.

[EmperorIdiot]

The day I walk through someone's garden and a plant nuts on me is the day someone's garden gets lit on fire

[makismakiavelis]

Damn, i used to have tons of fun with _Ecballium elaterium_ when i was a kid. This thing is growing almost everywhere in Greece. I remember me and other kids in the neighbourhood knocked them slightly with our feet and they popped right off the stems!

The urban legend was that if the liquid gets into your eyes "you will be blinded for ever"
It scared the crap out of me, but i still popped them for laughs...
lol It was only 20 minutes ago that i learned it is actually poisonous if ingested. Good thing i wasn't stupid enough to eat any!

[jaimeburgos]

"It can realease that liquid quite nicely" 😏😏😏

[Fishhunter]

Wow. If I was the first person to find this plant, I'd call it the rocket fruit.

[BBB-eudl]

Mrityunjaya, spreading and preserving life.

[Jxx]

My cucumber squirts when my room gets dark.

[iceybrice]

i wonder if it feels like nutting for plants as it does for humans

[BBCEarthExplore]

Thanks Casper. We're pretty proud now!

[Rezzmari]

LOL This is making it too easy to use as a dirty joke. God, I need to share this with my friends. They'd probably think I was watching porn only to find out this is a actual plant!!!

[HideInKilimanjaro]

I was relaxed studying angiosperms and all of a sudden i discovered the best youtube channel ever.

[unvergebeneid]

Really makes you wonder how these things evolved :)

[unvergebeneid]

Right, "The Private Life of Plants" really was an eye-opening documentary for me back in the days. Also, you just gotta love David Attenborough.

[photon_shines]

Wow! And I thought mimosa pudica was fun to play with (their leaves fold up when you touch them). This is even more exciting! Nature never fails to awe me.

[ellarose]

I love those plants I have some near my grandma and they look so cool when they explode!

[louisa]

Is it just me or the slo-mo part is really relaxing?

[hopawaylittlebunny]

Slo-mo is my favorite show on Earth Unplugged. :)

[Goobere]

If a bee or a fly put him self in that cucumber imagine that he will explode too with the cucumber

[elallen]

Used to play with the first plant while waiting for the school bus at my grandparents. Liked when they popped.

[crystaldawson]

Currently working on a botany unit with the children at home and we found this video fascinating! Thank you for sharing ❤️