Glimpse of the Garden: Week 16, Tendrils- Plants in Motion
We know that plants can move, but how often are we able to observe it? Unless you've got your time-lapse camera out, it might not always be easy to spot the evidence of plant growth. But we can observe the motion of plants if we investigate plant tendrils in the garden.
Beyond flowers, I think plant tendrils are one of the most beautiful things that develop in the garden. We've had a lot of spiraling tendrils twisting and turning this week. Where do you observe tendrils and the spiraling motion of some plants with your kids or students in the garden? Read on for more cool tendril plant science to share with kids.
The Science of Spiraling Cucumber Tendrils
It turns out that scientists and botanists have been interested in
this phenomena since Darwin! Just a few years ago, researchers
unlocked some of the mysteries of cucumber tendril spiraling. Their
discoveries are explained in this episode of Science Friday:
Once I learned more about cucumber
tendrils, I noticed the same peculiar winding on my lemon cucumber
vines!
Roger Hangarten is a researcher at
Indiana State University with a particular interest in plant motion
and time-lapse video. Visit his site, Plants in Motion,
for
some other fascinating plant video!
The scientific term for the winding and
bending movement in plants is: nutation. Where are you seeing
nutation in your garden?
No comments:
Post a Comment