Exploding on the Scene

Okay, this is just for fun.

I was standing on my front porch the other day, surveying the driveway, and trying to figure out a mystery. Here and there, scattered at random, were a particular type of seed. My first thought was that these were pebbles, but they were all identical in size, smooth surfaced, and all the same color. No, these were seeds. So, the mystery: Why are they scattered around my driveway?

I was mentally running through hypotheses. Kids had come through and tossed them. No, that didn't make any sense. Maybe a bird had dropped them. No, too many for that. A drive by fruiting? That wasn't even reasonably funny, let alone practical.

Suddenly there was a POP! A couple of these mystery seeds came dancing across the driveway. Well, now I knew their direction. But exploding seeds? The mystery was afoot. I hunted around the yard and the neighbor's yard. Various possibilities presented themselves, but I finally found the explosive culprit.

The plant is native to South and Central America, but it is very popular here. We call it the Mexican Bird of Paradise, but those who know better tell me it's the Red Bird of Paradise or the Caesalpinia pulcherrima. Yeah, you probably already knew that. Or not.

The desert here is full of the standard fare -- cactus, brush, desert trees and the like -- but we also have some beautiful blooms, and this Bird of Paradise is one of them. When they're done, they form seed pods, like so many of the plants here in the desert. These pods contain several seeds. They ripen, then dry out, and then, as I have just discovered, explode, scattering their seed ... quite literally.

I thought it was fascinating, a marvelous design. They are very happy here in the desert and grow prolifically. They bloom multiple times and add their beauty to the desert landscape more than once a year. And now I know ... the rest of the story.