Why Do Flowers Close Up at Night?
Posted October 13th, 2007 by big
in
Many flowers have petals which are open during the day, but which close up at night. These flowers are reacting to light or temperature changes. Other flowers, however, remain open around the clock, while still others have unusual opening and closing habits. But these habits are all related to light or temperature changes.
Here's how it happens. Heat makes the inner surfaces of a flower's petals grow. So when the temperature goes down, the outer surfaces grow faster than the inner ones, thus making the flower close.
The crocus and morning glory, for example, open as the temperature increases during the day and close as the day gets cooler in the late afternoon.
On the other hand, the four-o'clock closes in the morning and opens again late in the afternoon, around four o'clock.
Then there is the moonflower and the night-blooming cereus, which keep their blossoms closed during the day and open only at dusk or at night.
Some plants even react to touch and actually close up their leaves and "play dead" if a hand or twig brushes against them!
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from my understanding,
from my understanding, keeping the answer to a few short sentences, this sort of behavior has to do with some evolutionary traits that should be deemed beneficial. one such trait is the fact that the open flower is used to attract some insects, namely bees, for the process of pollination. and most of these insects "perform their duties" strictly during the day time. also, many flowers send scents attracting these insects (along with their colors and the movement of the flower due to a breeze, as other means of attracting the attention of the insects). hence, the flower would benefit from closing at night to consume the limited resource of a scent when that resource cannot be used to its advantage.
hope that helps a little bit
POINTLESS EXPLANATION
It's not just that it doesn't explain the "why" of the process...
...This doesn't even explain the mechanics of it, though... If it was just a difference of growth connected to heat, then a night blooming flower couldn't happen.
Why even bother including this "expanation" if it's gonna be such a friggin vacuous response to such a basic and interesting question?
FLOWERS THAT CLOSE AT NIGHT
There must be an evolutionary advantage to the plant to have its flowers close at night. The existing article explains the mechanics of how it works; can somebody explain the "why"? What advantage does hte plant get by closing up at night?
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