The fruits of the sandbox tree, Hura crepitans, explode with a bang and fling their seeds more than 40 metres.
Why it is true
As they dry, the capsules build up tension until they suddenly split with a crack like a gunshot. The seeds shoot out at about 70 metres per second. That is why the tree, native to tropical America, is nicknamed the 'dynamite tree'.
Source: New Phytologist (Swaine & Beer, 1977)
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