Popping beans????

Question

When I was little, at school during recess, I think in the spring.. The kids used to pick these little pea/bean pod-type plants off of these bushes. Except, instead of having two halves to the pod, like peas or string beans, they had 3 or 4. When you held them near the stem and squeezed them, the beans popped out, usually at a high rate of speed and fast enough to feel if you got hit by the beans. We used to aim them at eachother and shoot eachother with them. They were about an inch long and I think light green. We used to call them "popping beans". I have never seen anything like them since I left that school. Does anyone know of any plant like that or what it might be called?

Answer 1

I don't know the name, but we had fun with them, too, in El Paso, Texas, when I was a kid. The fun thing, too, was that if you put one in your mouth, the moisture in your mouth would cause the pod to snap open and the bean to pop! It was good for a laugh when used on an unsuspecting newcomer.
Perhaps you could contact a gardening center or Home Economics group where you lived to get information on the plant name. Good luck!

Answer 2

I'm not 100 % certain, but I think you may be talking about Mimosa tree seed pods.
http://www.sms.si.edu/irlspec/images/Albiz_julib1.jpg