Juice launches seeds: squirting cucumber

Squirting cucumbers launch and disperse seeds using hydraulic pressure.

Biomimicry Taxonomy

	Maintain community >
	Provide ecosystem services >
	Disperse seeds

Biomimetic Application Ideas

Application of agricultural amendments without the use of toxic inert ingredients. Packaging--dispersal.

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[Collapse all sections] Summary

"The little Mediterranean squirting cucumber, as it ripens, fills with a slimy juice. Eventually, the pressure within becomes so great that the cucumber bursts off its stalk and shoots through the air for as far as twenty feet. Behind it, streaming from the hole in its base like gases flaring behind a space rocket, comes a trail of slime and with it, seeds." (Attenborough 1995:15)

About the inspiring organism

Ecballium elaterium
Ecballium elaterium (L.) A. Rich.
[Squirting cucumber]

Some organism data provided by: ITIS: The Integrated Taxonomic Information System
Organism/taxonomy data provided by:
Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2008 Annual Checklist

Bioinspired products and application ideas

Application Ideas: Application of agricultural amendments without the use of toxic inert ingredients. Packaging--dispersal.

Industrial Sector(s) interested in this strategy: Agriculture, transportation

References

Attenborough, D. 1995. The Private Life of Plants: A Natural History of Plant Behavior. London: BBC Books. 320 p.

Juice launches seeds: squirting cucumber

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