These flowers release pollen more than 400 times acceleration due to gravity,

The catapults throw the pollen to more than 400 times the acceleration due to gravity, reaching a maximum speed of approximately 12 kilometers per hour. They are the amazing mountain laurels are flowers that have ten arms or filaments that act as catapults to expel pollen into the air.

These catapults of filaments are actually long stems that end with the male part of the plant, called the anther. The operation of the catapult has been revealed in a video in a recent study.

One of the fastest moving plants

The study is described in a recent article in the American Naturalist magazine. According to co-author Callin Switzer:

These filaments are under tension, so when an insect arrives and pulls them, they throw the pollen at whatever is there. There were two hypotheses about these catapults: one was that they are used for wind pollination. But our findings point to the idea that pollen adheres to pollinators that will likely take it to another flower.

Catapults also throw pollen into the center of the flower, leading to the hypothesis that they could only be caused by larger insects, such as bumblebees, that probably land there and transport pollen from one flower to another.