Gomphocarpus physocarpus is an perennial that is occasionally used in gardens as an ornamental due to its unusual 'hairy balloon' swelling bladder-like pods.
They contain many black seeds topped with silky tufts of white hairs.
When dried they make a good addition to flower arrangements.
The plant blooms with small, cream to white flowers in pendulous clusters throughout the year which then give way to the inflated pods.
It has a reputation for being a weed in some areas especially pastures, open woodlands, grasslands, wetlands, disturbed sites, waste areas, roadsides, fallows, and plantation crops (e.g. sugar cane) in the sub-tropical, tropical, and warmer temperate regions of Australia.