artillery plant

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.

artillery plant

noun

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

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