Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 29 August 1975:
Vol. 189. no. 4204, pp. 723 - 726
DOI: 10.1126/science.189.4204.723
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Sun-Tracking Solar Furnaces in High Arctic Flowers: Significance for Pollination and Insects

Peter G. Kevan 1

1 Research Unit on Vector Pathology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada A1C 5S7

Heliotropic flowers (Dryas integrifolia, Papaver radicatum) act, in sunshine, as solar reflectors, their corollas focusing heat on the sporophylls. Considerable intrafloral temperatures are generated. Winds above 3.8 meters per second and cloud abolish the effect. Insects that bask in the flowers also gain heat. The phenomena areimportant in maximizing the small heat budget.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Flower thermoregulation facilitates fertilization in Asian sacred lotus.
J.-K. Li and S.-Q. Huang (2009)
Ann. Bot. 103, 1159-1163
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Infrared radiation from hot cones on cool conifers attracts seed-feeding insects.
S. Takacs, H. Bottomley, I. Andreller, T. Zaradnik, J. Schwarz, R. Bennett, W. Strong, and G. Gries (2009)
Proc R Soc B 276, 649-655
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Seasonal Adaptations in Arctic Insects.
H. V. Danks (2004)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 44, 85-94
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sunny-side up: flower heliotropism as a source of parental environmental effects on pollen quality and performance in the snow buttercup, Ranunculus adoneus (Ranunculaceae).
C. Galen and M. L. Stanton (2003)
Am. J. Botany 90, 724-729
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Why does the flower stalk of Pulsatilla cernua (Ranunculaceae) bend during anthesis?.
S.-Q. Huang, Y. Takahashi, and A. Dafni (2002)
Am. J. Botany 89, 1599-1603
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)