Compass plants

Compass plants are the names of different types of plants that set their leaves roughly in a north-south direction (usually so that the leaf tips and narrow sides point north-south, and the blade faces east-west). Such plants are mainly found in very sunny areas and in this way achieve that the intense light of the midday sun only hits their leaf edges. In addition to the light ( phototropism ), other factors, in particular thermal radiation ( thermotropism ), are responsible for this adaptation, which helps avoid overheating .

Well-known representatives of the compass plants are:

• Compass plant ( Silphium laciniatum )
• Spiny lettuce ( Lactuca serriola )
• Tansy ( Tanacetum vulgare )
• Some irises ( irises )
• Golden haired grid ( Aster linosyris )

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• Herder-Lexicon of Biology, Spectrum Academ. Verlag, 1994. ISBN 3-86025-156-2
• D. v. Denffer, H. Ziegler, F. Ehrendorfer, A. Bresinsky: Strasburger - textbook of botany for universities . 32nd edition. G. Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart / New York 1983. ISBN 3-437-20295-2