Skunk cabbage has on-off heat switch.New measurements show that the skunk cabbage skunk cabbage: see arum. skunk cabbage Any of three species of plants that grow in temperate bogs and meadows, emitting unpleasant odours as they grow. bloom has a thermostat that turns flower-power heat on and off depending on air temperature. In North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. woodlands, the eastern skunk skunk, name for several related New World mammals of the weasel family, characterized by their conspicuous black and white markings and use of a strong, highly offensive odor for defense. cabbage's hollow, brown, teardrop-shape blooms poke out of the ground in winter and can give off enough heat to melt snow. The spike of tiny flowers inside each cavity heats up to between 16 [degrees] and 24 [degrees] C, report Roger S. Seymour and Amy J. Blaylock of the University of Adelaide Its main campus is located on the cultural boulevard of North Terrace in the city-centre alongside prominent institutions such as the Art Gallery of South Australia, the South Australian Museum and the State Library of South Australia. in Australia. They hitched monitoring devices to Canadian skunk cabbage blooms and discovered that when temperatures dropped too low, the plants gave up. Below 3 [degrees] C, many of the blooms' heaters shut down, but they switched on again when the air warmed up. A relative of the skunk cabbage, the dragon lily, also turns on built-in heaters in its blooms. Seymour and Paul Schultze-Motel, also at Adelaide, monitored these flowers in hopes of figuring out how heat benefits the plant. One heater is a long black spike that emerges from the flower and releases a putrid putrid /pu·trid/ (pu´trid) rotten; putrefied. pu·trid adj. 1. Decomposed; foul-smelling; rotten. 2. Proceeding from, relating to, or exhibiting putrefaction. odor to lure pollinating insects. The other warms a flower chamber that traps insects overnight. The plant keeps the chamber around 20 [degrees] C, which is up to 12 [degrees] C above the air temperature, enabling insects to stay active during their captivity. The researchers presented both reports at the 16th International Botanical Congress International Botanical Congress (IBC) is a large-scale meeting of botanists in all scientific fields, from all over the world. Authorized by the International Association of Botanical and Mycological Societies (IABMS), congresses are held every six years with the venue in St. Louis. The skunk cabbage results will be published in the JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY. |
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