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Brief Communications
Nature 435, 164 (12 May 2005) | doi:10.1038/435164a; Published online 11 May 2005
Botany: A record-breaking pollen catapult
Joan Edwards1, Dwight Whitaker2, Sarah Klionsky1 & Marta J. Laskowski3
Abstract
The release of stored elastic energy often drives rapid movements in animal systems1, 2, and plant components employing this mechanism should be able to move with similar speed. Here we describe how the flower stamens of the bunchberry dogwood (Cornus canadensis) rely on this principle to catapult pollen into the air as the flower opens explosively3, 4, 5. Our high-speed video observations show that the flower opens in less than 0.5 ms — to our knowledge, the fastest movement so far recorded in a plant.
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