artillery plant

American  

noun

1. a spreading, tropical American plant, Pilea microphylla, of the nettle family, having small, fleshy leaves and green flowers, grown as a curiosity because the pollen is discharged explosively when dry.

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artillery plant British  

noun

1. any of various tropical urticaceous plants of the genus Pilea, such as P. microphylla, all having stamens that discharge their pollen explosively

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Example Sentences

Another of the Nettle tribe, Pilea serpyllifolia—a plant often cultivated in our greenhouses—is also explosive, and its little puffs of smoke-like pollen have gained for it the popular name of the artillery plant. 

From Project Gutenberg