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kayjay
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Location: Southern Ontario

What Do You Call This Phenomenon?

So I have this healthy little zucchini seedling.

Image

I checked on it late at night, lights were out, and it did this:

Image

It folded up its cotyledons. I wanted to google around and figure out how common that was, if it's normal, etc, but I couldn't even come up with the right keywords. Anyway, it's back to normal today for its sun bath, it seems happy, I'm just curious what that was.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

...sleeping?... :>

--- sorry, I feel like I should know this word, but I can't think of it. :roll:

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Here if a flower or plant sleeps, it means it is dead.
Nyctinasty is the technical term when some plants' flowers or leaves close at night. It is a circadium rhythm thing that they do that. Certain cells in the plant are able to change their shape in response to the different spectrum of light. Blue light in the daytime keep the leaves open and red light at dusk and night will make them close.

It has to do with the action of the potassium pump in specialized cells located at the joint of the leaves called the pulvini that passively pumps water in and out of the cells through osmosis and acts like the hinges of a door popping the leaves up and down.

P.S. I really did not know all this stuff. I looked it up and this is just the simplified version.

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applestar
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Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

"Nyctinasty" ...what a funny word :roll:

...nope, I don't think I knew it... How could I forget if I did. :lol:

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

It is a funny word and probably one most of us would not even use much. Another word you don't hear often is cauliferous.
It is where flowers and fruit form on the trunk of the tree instead of the branch tips.

Taiji
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Location: Gardening in western U.P. of MI. 46+ N. lat. elev 1540. zone 3; state bird: mosquito

Fer a minute I thought he or she had a Venus flytrap! :)

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kayjay
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Location: Southern Ontario

Cool, thanks! Good to know.

Applestar, that's what I called it at first. I saw it and showed my fiance. "Hey, check it out! It went ni-night!!" :P

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jal_ut
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Location: Northern Utah Zone 5

Heliotropism

imafan26
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Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Heliotropism is the diurnal motion of plants moving in response to the direction of the sun.

Nyctinasty is the diurnal response to the onset of night which would be the opposite of heliotropism.



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