Cloud Spitter

The Cloud Spitter likes to grow on grasslands and thrives when buffeted by strong winds, away from areas of shade and tree cover. Most of the Cloud Spitters mass is held in a single, bulbous flower which grows slumped in the direction of the prevailing breeze. Within this flower matures a pointed seedpod which emerges from the top of the tightly closed flower when ripe.

In this fruiting state, the Cloud Spitters roots and body are highly sensitive movement and contact. When disturbed the Cloud Spitter’s flower “explodes” and its highly elastic cell walls catapult seed pods in a long, high arc, leaving a cloudy trail of floating on the breeze. This dramatic example of ballistic seed dispersal gives the Cloud Spitter its name.