Category Science

Have you been to a flower show? Beautiful blossoms, exquisitely arranged are a feast the eyes! An expert flower arranger can bring together a range of colourful flowers, buds and leaves to exceptional aesthetic perfection. However, the master flower arranger is nature herself. Observe a bunch of flowers of the golden shower tree. No mortal artist can arrange it better.

Nature arranges different species of flowers differently. In some plants, there will be only one flower in the stem; in some others are arranged in a spike-like pattern. Some species have flowers arranged in a bunch. This is called inflorescence.

Why does nature arrange flowers so beautifully? The strongest underlying force that leads the world forward is desire for life. And the flowers bear the seeds that hold the ‘tomorrow’ of life!

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Our world would not be so beautiful without flowers. They come in so many colours, shapes and fragrances. A Rose is distinctly different from a jasmine or a lily. However, all flowers have a common purpose and similar structural pattern.

All flowers have four basic parts. They are the petals, sepals, stamen and pistils. These parts, however, come in a variety of shapes, sizes and structures. There are very simple flowers such as the buttercup, while some others are very complex like the orchid. The petals of flowers vary incredibly. Some have ruffled or smooth petals, others have coloured sepals that look like petals. Though all flowers look perfect to us, there are certain elements required for a flower to be perfect. The flower should have the stamen and the pistils, the male and the female parts, in them. Roses and lilies are perfect flowers. There are flowers that do not have either of these parts. Such flowers are called ‘imperfect flowers’. Willow flowers are imperfect flowers. Some plants have both male and female flowers on them. The male flower contains only stamen and the female has only pistils.

Those engaged in the study of flowers have an interesting job, because there is an amazing variety of flowers in nature.

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Flowers play an important role in the socio-cultural context of Man. There is hardly a special occasion where flowers are not used. Have you ever wondered why plants produce these beautiful things with sweet fragrance, and arresting colours?

Flowers are an essential part of plants. They serve the purpose of reproduction in them. Flowers are the part that produces seeds in plants. New plants grow out of seeds and thus the plant is able to produce its offspring.

Most flowers, despite their differences, have a similar structure. The centre of a flower contains stamens that have pollen cells and carpel or pistils of the flower. Usually, the petals of the flower are bright and colourful.

A set of leaves are found outside the petals of the flower and it is known as the calyx. Calyx is divided into segments called sepals.

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Have you heard of plants that pray? Some plants fold their leaves at night, as if they are praying.

Most of these prayer plants have big, oval leaves. They turn upward at night. In fact, there are many plants that move their leaves at night. The leaves of plants such as peas and beans bend downward in the night as if they are sleeping or praying.

There is a regular pattern for the folding and unfolding of such leaves. Biologists call these routine patterns ‘daily cycles’ or ‘circadian rhythm’. The most probable reason for this phenomenon is that the plants are trying to prevent loss of heat during the cold night hours. The leaves move because the water in the cells of the leaves move in and out of it. When water moves out from one cell to another, the cell without water tends to wilt, and the plant seems to move. And, for some mysterious reason, the absence or presence of light plays a role in this phenomenon.

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If you tried to pick a rose flower, it is highly unlikely that you have escaped without being pricked by its thorns. Sometimes it becomes very difficult and unpleasant to pick a flower from a thorny plant. There are many plants that have thorns.

All animals and plants have evolved and developed ways of defending themselves. Snakes and certain insects use venom to protect themselves. In the case of plants, they need to protect themselves from animals that would eat or injure them. Some plants have developed thorns to escape such animals.

Thorns come in various sizes and shapes. Do you know that the thorns of many plants, in fact, are modified branches? In some other plants such as cacti, they are modified leaves!

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Do you have a vegetable garden at home? If you observe a bitter gourd or pumpkin plant, you will notice slender thread-like structures that wrap themselves tightly around a support. Most climbing plants have this feature called tendrils. The purpose of tendrils is to guide a climber to a support to which it can cling.

Tendrils help plants to change their position. When tendrils come in contact with support, there is faster growth for cells in the opposite side. As a result, the tendril rapidly forms a coil around the support, making it look like the spring of a wristwatch. Tendrils are very fast too. Sometimes, they make their first coil within twenty seconds of touching a support, and in four minutes, will be tightly wound around it.

Tendrils attach themselves to the support in different ways. The most common kind coils around a slender support and then tightens itself in a spiral. Pea, grape etc are examples. On the other hand, the disk-tipped tendril adheres firmly to brick, stone or wood, and then contacts. There are also other means of climbing.

Charles Darvin was the first scientist to publish the earliest study of tendrils, in a monograph titled ‘On the Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants’. It was published in 1865.

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