Before the light
paints his first line
through the flower,
The petals are buzzing
with muted maps –
Its ink contained within
Writing with bone leaves.
A thousand shapes of hands
Reaching out,
To draw the edge.
Somewhere below
The drummers await,
Every flutter is a call
To find your way
in colored threads
and shape.
Among them,
a cage of pulses of time –
opening,
closing,
until the boss sings.
This poem is inspired by Recent researchwho has discovered that flowers use adjustable petal designs to attract pollinators.
Flowers use colorful patterns to attract pollinators, such as bees. These patterns are often formed by distinct zones on the petals, where cells develop different colors, shapes, and textures. Although researchers have studied the factors and pathways that lead to these characteristics, it has not been clear how plants decide which parts of the petal should display these traits. In particular, how these boundaries are established between different zones of a petal in the early stages of development has been a mystery.
Recent research on Hibiscus trionumA plant with a distinctive bull’s-eye pattern on its petals sheds light on this process. The scientists found that the bull’s-eye’s position is determined long before it becomes visible. Using computational models, they explored how the pattern’s proportions remain constant even as petals grow dramatically in size. By studying genetic variants, they found that plants can adjust the boundaries of these patterns during early development or modify growth later to achieve different bull’s-eye sizes. These changes are important, as experiments show that pollinators such as tawny-tailed bumblebees can recognize and prefer flowers with specific bull’s-eye sizes, helping them find food more efficiently.
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