Native Plants
Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?
A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.
rate this answer
Wednesday - April 08, 2009
From: Redding, CA
Region: California
Topic: General Botany
Title: Why do some flowers open during the day and close at night?
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
My son is doing a science fair project on the California Poppies. We are trying to find the definitive answer on why the flowers open during the day and close at night.ANSWER:
Probably the reason you have not been able to find a definitive answer is that there isn't any. Although some studies have certainly been made, we couldn't find any scientific conclusions on the subject. We did, however, find the name of the function, from a website called Seeds Aside Word of the Week: Nyctinasty. Eschscholzia californica (California poppy) is just one of many plants on which this occurs.
Since the purpose of the science fair project is no doubt to encourage students to learn how to do research and make conclusions on their own, we are going to suggest he begin by searching on the word "nyctinasty." We found the word by Googling on "flowers that close at night." We would warn him, though, not to take everything on the Internet as absolute fact; a lot of it is opinion, not fact, a lot of it is speculation, and some of it is just wrong. He might want to list some of those speculations-like closing to hold in moisture (possible, but not proved) or the bloom was protecting its seeds from predators (maybe).
More General Botany Questions
Information about glucose concentration in plants for Science Fair project
October 24, 2007 - I am a high school student enrolling in science fair. MY topic is as follows, "Can a plant be removed from the sun and put in dark and still survive if I directly inject glucose into the stem/roots (...
view the full question and answer
Albinism in plants.
May 16, 2010 - Greetings, I was wondering what you know of albinism in plants? I know I've found a few articles about it online. I discovered my only albino plant last summer. It was an albino dogbane plant grow...
view the full question and answer
Why is water used for plants.
February 19, 2008 - Why is water the most popular thing for watering plants if is so plain?
view the full question and answer
What does the name montana mean in a species name?
August 21, 2015 - What does the name montana mean in a species name?
view the full question and answer
Can foxglove poison be transmitted to the soil and taken up by another plant
May 29, 2012 - Hi Mr. Smarty Plants,
Recently I discovered a Foxglove that had come up after being planted 2 or 3 yrs ago. Next to it I have some medicinal Feverfew growing. (They were so close together I suspec...
view the full question and answer
| Support the Wildflower Center by Donating Online or Becoming a Member today. |