Outside our office in central Arkansas, several people noticed a popping noise coming from some bushes. Then we noticed projectiles! Looking closer, we discovered that these pods were literally splitting in half with enough force to eject the "beans" inside 15-20 feet! We've only noticed it today, and at this rate, they will all be popped tomorrow. It's pretty strange! I don't have a scanner available, but the pods are green, four to eight inches, and feel like velvet on the outside. The beans inside are mostly about the diameter of a dime, and are rather flat, and dark black/brown. They are growing from vines in the area. I've searched around the web and haven't found anything that looks like an exact match, but I'm no botanist. I broke one off to see if I could induce the popping. I held it over a flame for a minute or so, and it wouldn't catch fire. I threw it down, and about 3 minutes later it popped on its own. I found it rather fascinating.
Wisteria perhaps? See http://www.mastergardeners.org/publications/wisteria/wisteriaSeedPods.html for a description and photo to compare with. It was only one of two plants that I know with that attribute. There are probably others. My second plant was the wild impatiens, Impatiens aurella which is also called touch-me-not. When you touch the seed pod the seed is ejected explosively. It's really a neat thing to see. Harry
