The lupines are, for the most part, done blooming. The other prairie forbs and the grasses tower over the palmate-style leaves of the lupines. But, if you look very carefully, you can spot the seed pods. When they first develop, they resemble lime green pea pods, but fuzzy ones. Then they gradually turn black. And once they have dried, they pop! The shell doesn't just crack open, but both halves twist, flinging the white, rock hard seeds away from the parent plant. I collected some black pods yesterday and left them in a seed tray to dry. The tray is about 2" deep and in the morning, I found seeds and twisted pod halves on the counter around the pan. An amazing amount of power from such a tiny object.
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New seed pods
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Dried seed pod just beginning to open
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