Flower clock
The term flower clock is meant
- the determination of time based on the opening time of flowers of different plant species , as it is investigated in chronobiology . The flower clock is a practical application of nature observation, which is now summarized under the term phenology .
- in horticulture is a decorative clock that is set in a flower bed and whose dial consists partly or entirely of flowering plants. The hands of the clock are driven by a clockwork . Examples are the Bernburg flower clock and the Zittau flower clock .
Chronobiological basic principle
The flower clock illustrates the coevolution between the flowering plants and their animal pollinators . The different flowering times ensure that nectar and pollen are available for pollinators 24 hours a day . If all flowers were open at the same time, all pollinators would have to search for food at the same time. This would lead to strong competition both among the plant species to be pollinated and among the pollinators, and would also lead to bottlenecks in energy metabolism and reproduction . The distributed flowering times make it possible to search for food for all pollinating animals on the one hand, and ensure pollination of the flowering plants on the other .
In general, fewer flowers bloom in the evening and at night than during the day. The late and early bloomers in particular open up new pollinators. The development of the night bloomers and night butterflies can be seen as a coevolution.
- Example plants
The following examples from Central European latitudes in relation to the CET :
- Meadow goat 3 to 12 p.m.
- Pumpkin 4 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Gossip Poppy 5 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Waiting 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. (longer in colder temperatures)
- Thistle 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. (depending on the species, e.g. cabbage and goose thistle 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
- Grass lily 6 o'clock
- Winch 6 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Coltsfoot 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Water lily 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Marigold 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. (closes early if it rains)
- Wiesen-Pippau 7 a.m.
- Lady's mantle 7 o'clock
- Gauchheil 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Marsh marigold 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Autumn dandelions 8 o'clock
- Marguerite 9 o'clock
- Gentian 9 o'clock
- Toadflax 9 o'clock
- Wood sorrel 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Hollyhock 10 o'clock
- Cabbage and goose thistle 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Ice flower 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- Wonder flower 4 p.m.
- Field carnation 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
- Honeysuckle 7pm to 11pm
- Queen of the night 7pm to midnight
- Evening primrose 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus was not only the author of numerous theoretical writings, but also laid a floral clock developed by him in the Botanical Garden of Uppsala on. It was a flowerbed in the form of a dial with 12 subdivisions in turn, which were planted with the herbaceous plants blooming at the respective hour . Because while observing nature in his immediate vicinity he made the surprising finding for his time that certain types of plants only bloomed at certain times of the day. Based on this, Linnaeus intensified his research and found that these plant activities always took place at the same time of day or night during the entire growing season. So the idea of a planted clock arose for him. By planting the herbaceous plants in the eight o'clock field, which open their flowers either at 8:00 am or at 8:00 pm, and the corresponding plant species in the other fields, he had created an exact natural clock. When asked about the time, a glance from the window of his study at his flower clock should have been enough for him to read the clock to within 5 minutes.
Dubbing
In 1959 the French composer Jean Françaix composed a suite for oboe and chamber orchestra entitled L'horloge de Flore ( Flora's clock). Each sentence is named after a flowering plant that opens and closes through a day.
literature
- The flower clock , Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3-7995-0281-8
- Linné's flower clock (hard cardboard disk), Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-7995-0845-2
- Wolfgang Engelmann: Flower clocks, time memory and time forgetting , Institute for Botany, University of Tübingen, 2004 ( PDF , 2.947 kB)
Web links
- The flower clock - every blossom in its time , mein-schoener-garten.de
- Flower clocks - Floral Clocks Horloge de Flore - Carl von Linnés Florenuhr, garten-literatur.de
Individual evidence
- ^ Pierer's Universal Lexicon . 4th edition 1857–1865, flower clock
- ↑ Rudi Koch (Ed.): BI-Lexicon - clocks and time measurement. Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig, 1986, ISBN 3-323-00100-1 , p. 34
- ^ Herder's Conversations Lexicon . 1st edition 1854–1857, flower clock
- ↑ Carolus Linnaeus' Floral Clocks. In: ScienceBlogs. Retrieved July 17, 2013 .