Why a flower opens at a particular hour
A bud's opening hour emerges from a daily internal rhythm meeting darkness, light, temperature and its stage of growth. The timing can also shape when pollinators find it.
A place for slower thoughts
Seed and Season
Plant lives through germination, dormancy and changing seasons.
Words by Evan Sol
The archive
5 storiesFrom the notebook
What a root tip can sense
A growing root responds to gravity, water, obstacles and salt through different cells near its tip. The turn is made by unequal growth, not one all-purpose sensor.
The signal that starts an autumn leaf falling
An autumn leaf changes color and loosens its grip on different clocks. Studies of sugar maple and aspen show why no single seasonal cue explains every falling leaf.
Why some seeds cannot go into a freezer
Drying lets many seeds survive a seed bank's −20°C freezer. Acorns lose viability when dried too far, yet can be injured by freezing while wet. Carefully prepared embryo tissue offers another route, with recovery still to prove.
The wait inside a dormant seed
An unsprouted seed may be dead, or it may be reading a season. Seed coats, embryos and changing conditions make those two silences hard to tell apart.