California Poppies with open petals
Spring, an absolutely glorious time of the year. This is one season of the year which hits the sweet spot, having left behind a cold winter and hot summers seem still far away. It is such a wonderful feeling to wake up to the morning sun peeking into the house, listening to birds sing praises of the coming day. My morning routine started by going for a walk with my toddler son and everyday we walk past flowers, plants and trees. One of the most striking things about this walk was the silence and freshness around us which I vaguely noticed before as I was buried deep into the rush of everyday life. It almost looks like nature is relaxing as all the rush and buzz around them has calmed down and now I am following the suit.
One of the best things that has happened in this period of lock down is that now there is more time to notice things around me, which have always existed, especially at various intervals in the same day. What I also noticed in the mornings and evenings is that some flowers like California poppies have all their petals folded in as if they are still sleeping and in the afternoon voila, they have opened all their petals and sidewalks look like an orange carpet. It is as if these plants have a daily routine as well. This phenomenon tweaked my scientific curiosity and digging deeper into this, I found out that this is a pretty common phenomenon among certain plants. Legumes such as peas, alfalfa are some examples of plants which exhibit this behavior as well.
It seems, as always in science there is no one conclusive answer as to why this behavior is exhibited by some plants. Atleast, there is a name for such behavior and it is called nyctinasty- a movement exhibited by certain plants based on day and night, similar to the circadian rhythm that we humans have.
California Poppies with closed petals
There are several theories floating regarding this phenomenon. One of the theories is that during night when the air is cooler and the darkness makes lower petals grow faster than the top ones, forcing the top petals to shut. As tantalizing as it is to apply this theory to all flowers exhibiting nyctinasty, this really doesn’t hold good for flowers like poppies and tulip as they have only a single layer of petals. Here are some other reasons why this may be happening
1) To prevent the flowers from freezing at night, everybody likes warm snug feelings, right!!
2) For flowers not to waste their scent at night when most pollinators are sleeping. Just like us humans, you don’t wear make-up to bed when nobody is seeing you!
3) To keep pollen dry from night time moisture as dry pollen is easily transferred by pollinators like insects; as really who wants to carry heavy unnecessary loads ?
4) A highly evolved clever defense mechanism wherein closing the petals gives predators a clear view of the pesky pests which bother these flowers to find them easily and eat them
In my opinion, all these theories are relevant and there really isn’t one theory which is the most valid above all else. But, what is certain is the blend of harmony of Mother Nature and the plants, the synchronized dance of movements that is played morning, afternoon and night showing pure pleasure of simple actions.
Below are a few links for further reading:
https://www.livescience.com/34569-why-flowers-close-at-night-nyctinasty.html
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/info/nyctinasty-plant-information.htm
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/brv.12444#.XqcoOpHSL0Q.email
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/info/nyctinasty-plant-information.htm
Note: Royalty free images were used for this article
