Mystery Plant: Pod seen in 1940s ‘Fantasia’ The word “pod” is an
old term that has a rather obscure origin, generally referring
to something that contains something else. It’s a word that is
commonly used to describe anything in the plant kingdom that
contains seeds. In general, “pod” seems to be most commonly used
for a fruit that is dry at maturity, and which eventually opens
up (there are plenty of different ways) to let the seeds get out
(plenty of ways for that, too). Sometimes you’ll hear people use
the term “seedpod” for the same thing. For botanists, of course,
such a word is not very precise, and since there are so many
different architectures of dried fruits that open (or “dehisce”)
to release seeds, a somewhat more complicated list of terms has
developed. But then, botanists are fond of developing long lists
of terms. This plant produces a “pod”-like fruit that is
technically what we call a follicle. You’ll see that a follicle
splits open longitudinally along one line. Now a follicle is
much like a