By Mindy Weisberger, CNN (CNN) — An odd little gourd called the squirting cucumber has an explosive reproductive strategy that has intrigued naturalists since the days of the Roman Empire. Squirting cucumbers blast their seeds over distances hundreds of times their length, and now scientists know how the plants do it. A squirting cucumber in action is a remarkable sight, but if you blink, you might miss it — the eruption lasts about 0.03 second …

KIFI

Idaho Falls

Bonneville County

Idaho

United States

Scientists solve centuries-old mystery of how a cucumber explosively squirts its seeds

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.

Ad Fontes Media

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Warner Bros. Discovery

Atlanta

Fulton County

Georgia

News-Press & Gazette Company

KRDO

Colorado Springs

El Paso County

Colorado

Plants aren't known for rapid motion, but a falling squirting cucumber jets its seeds dozens of meters in all directions, and now we know how

Haaretz

Salman Schocken

M. DuMont Schauberg

Leonid Nevzlin

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Tel Aviv District

Israel

Secrets of squirting cucumber's explosive seed ejection revealed

A team led by the University of Oxford has solved a mystery that has intrigued scientists for centuries: how does the squirting cucumber squirt?

Phys.org

United Kingdom

Mathematical modeling reveals the explosive secret of the squirting cucumber

When the fruit of the squirting cucumber is ripe, one of the fastest movements in the plant kingdom occurs: the seeds are hurled many meters away with great force. And not only far, but also well distributed. A British research team has analyzed exactly how this happens.

Wenn die Frucht der Spritzgurke reif ist, entsteht eine der schnellsten Bewegungen im Pflanzenreich: Die Samen werden mit großer Wucht viele Meter weit geschleudert. Und nicht nur weit, sondern auch noch gut verteilt. Wie genau, hat ein britisches Forscherteam exakt analysiert.

Mit Wucht und bis zu 80 km/h: So verteilen Spritzgurken ihre Samen - bis zu 12 Meter weit

n-tv.de

Bertelsmann Stiftung

With force and up to 80 km/h: This is how squirting cucumbers spread their seeds - up to 12 meters away

A team has solved a mystery that has intrigued scientists for centuries: how does the squirting cucumber squirt? The findings were achieved through a combination of experiments, high-speed videography, image analysis, and advanced mathematical modelling.

Science Daily

Daniel Hogan

New study reveals the explosive secret of the squirting cucumber

Biology: The spring cucumber shoots its seeds away with a jet of water. The mechanism behind this has now been described by British scientists. Plants…

Biologie: De springkomkommer schiet met een waterstraal zijn zaden weg. Het mechanisme hierachter is nu beschreven door Britse wetenschappers. Planten…

De springkomkommer is een explosieve vrucht die zijn zaden met grote kracht wegspuit

NRC Handelsblad

Mediahuis

Netherlands

The jumping cucumber is an explosive fruit that shoots its seeds with great force

The squirting cucumber shoots its seeds so fast that scientists had to use techniques like high-speed videography to record it.

Gizmodo

G/O Media

New Study Unveils the Explosive Secrets of the Squirting Cucumber

Squirting cucumbers shoot their seeds up to 33 feet (10 m) away from the mother plant to avoid overcrowding and competition, but exactly how they do it has long remained a mystery.

Live Science

Future plc

Purch Group

Squirting cucumbers thicken and stiffen to eject seeds with 'remarkable speed and precision,' study finds

Scientists solve centuries-old mystery of how a cucumber explosively squirts its seeds

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