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Can plants see?
March 31, 2010 | 7 Comments
Two-eyed Spider Plant (Chlorophytum Comosum)
Yes, apparently.
In recent decades, plant physiologists have become increasingly aware that plants use light for much more than photosynthesis. Plants have sophisticated skills for obtaining and processing the information that light carries about their local environment. Not only can they sense the presence of other plants and react in ways that maximize their chances of-survival. But more, light enables plants to determine that spring is beginning or that winter is ending. Via light, seeds know when to germinate, and adult plants know when to flower.
The flowering process is particularly intriguing because, in most plants, it is precisely synchronized with seasonal changes. Certain plant species do not flower if the days are too long; others flower only when daylight lasts longer than a certain number of hours. This observation suggests that plants can assess the changing length of the day as the seasons come and go, a complex and difficult task. To do so, they must discriminate day from night, measure the passage of time, and integrate the information. Do plants possess the means of carrying out such a complex process? They certainly do. Just as plants measure light with photoreceptors, they measure time, appropriately, with a biological clock. And as for the integration of light and time, we have been able to show, after countless hours of experimentation, that plants are constantly, monotonously making and then destroying molecules that help control flowering. The concentration of those molecules is the key to a seemingly complex decision.
The whole idea that plants can perceive such subtle variations in light as the ones caused by nearby plants, and respond to them with dramatic changes in their own growth patterns, has always fascinated us. Light, of course, carries a wealth of information for those able to decode it. Plants begin decoding light by “dissecting” the ambient white light, which is made up of all the colors of the rainbow. Molecules such as chlorophyll, present throughout the leaves and stems, selectively extract specific colors, or wavelengths, from the white light. Green foliage absorbs most of the red and the blue, and reflects, as well as transmits through its leaves, a color known as “far-red,” whose wavelength lies just outside the range of visible light [see illustration on next pace]. And the reason plants look green is that they reflect green light.
Plants can measure not only the amount, or intensity; of each of several colors, but also the ratios of certain pairs of colors. (Link)
A 6.5-pound ball of black fur that hides inside it on a regular basis can be very disorienting.
Filed Under: cat blogging, Delta, GARDENING, MUSINGS, spider plant
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7 Comments
That is such a cute Pic of Delta !!!
Mala
Bee,she is so cute…
It is very beautiful and innocent picture
Too cute!
Wow! A plant with eyes. Delta is sooooo cute..
I had a cat who would chew grass once in a while… does Delta do that?
everyday.
-jai
I checked the page about CLICK and … nothing !
Is the CLICK event died ?
Hope NO !
Please, Please give us goog news !
verO