Tales From a Tiny Garden

The Hibiscus Flower Night Show

I used a Picamera attached to a Raspberry Pi 3 running a simple time lapse code. The 5 megapixel camera shot one frame every 120 seconds. The final movie was processed using Time Lapse Tool at 30 frames per second,

The plant was illuminated at night with a 12v AC PRO JumpstarterĀ  equiped with an emergency light

Hibiscus flowers are brightly coloured plate sized beacons. They evolved to attract humming birds and winged insects. They open at night and are ready for action when the sun comes up. Nothing much happens as the bud prepares to open during the day. The nocturnal opening is explosive.

Adaptations:

The brightly coloured bulls-eye guides hummingbirds and butterflys into the flower.

The large erect central stamen has anthers anthers loaded with yellow pollen.

five dark stigmas collect pollen pushed onto them by flapping wings.

The flower is capable of collecting large volumes of water and sunlight on it’s surface.

I wonder.

What triggers the flower opening?

What drives the flower opening?

Slow opening flowers have a longer existence than fast opening flowers, why?

View My Stats