Offending Seeds

I picked these fuzzy velvet seed pods and set them next to my desk- because they were sooo cool. And remarkably hard to open, and I pondered over the tight seal- Until on that hot night a few days ago, one of them exploded in my face. Had I done my research I would have known that "Forces build up inside the pod during the drying process, and when strong enough, the pod pops. The best description I’ve seen states: “as a pod dries, tensions are set up in the wall of the pod eventually causing it to split along two lines of weakness. As the two halves curl back, suddenly released like a tense spring, they flick out the seeds inside in an explosive manner.”

But even that description doesn't do it justice, as my first thought was: do we have poltergiests? and was it a cat? as I was being pelted by seed and husk, narrowly missing my eye- i whip my head around left and right. Even mom, master gardener that she is, had no idea the seed pods blew up. The wreckage was in a 10ft radius around me. So then later that night when i was jolted awake by explosive sounds followed by a light pelting of seeds I mental noted my conclusion: nature, a fairly amazing thing.