Exploding Seeds
A fruit of the Sandbox Tree or Hura Crepitans, also known as monkey no-climb tree and dynamite tree. The fruit is a large capsule with seeds that can be launched at 70 meters per second as far as 100 meters away and that split in 12 parts. Fishermen have been said to use the milky, caustic sap from this tree to poison fish. The Caribs made arrow poison from its sap. Before more modern forms of pens were invented, the trees' unripe seed capsules were sawn in half to make decorative pen sandboxes.
Side Note: My husband Sky Yeager took this image and it was shot incredibly fast as to avoid the pods potential of exploding. As a teenager I collected these pods and would place them in my room. Days-months later I would wonder why they had fallen apart and its only since I took this image that I now know.
Model: Holly Wilmeth | San Pancho, Nayarit, Mexico 2019