Let’s learn about plant movement

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We may not often see it, but all plants are on the move.

Plants move in slow motion as they grow. Their roots sense gravity to stretch down into soil. This is known as gravitropism. Roots’ ability to sense moisture also helps them bend toward water — a power called hydrotropism. And plant shoots grow up and out in the direction of sunlight. This sun-chasing strategy is phototropism.

But growth isn’t the only type of movement plants boast. Some plants are superfast. Perhaps the most famous is the Venus flytrap. When insects touch the hairlike triggers on its leaves, those leaves can snap shut in less than half a second.

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Other plants trap prey much faster. Take underwater bladderworts. Their stalks are studded with sack-shaped traps. When a mosquito larva or some other prey triggers the hairs at a trap’s lid, it opens. Water gets sucked in, pulling the prey with it, and the lid shuts. It all happens in one-thousandth of a second.

Not all plants move to catch prey. Others do it to blast their seeds, spores or pollen into the air. The bunchberry dogwood is a good example. Its flowers have fused petals that hold down armlike stamens loaded with pollen. When disturbed, those petals split and the stamens flip outward to catapult pollen into the air. The stamens’ acceleration is about 2,400 times that of Earth’s gravity.

The hairyflower wild petunia likewise flings its seeds into the air. Each of its seed pods contains seeds held in place by hooks. When the pods reach a certain size, they split open and their inner hooks fling out seeds like balls from lacrosse sticks. The seeds spin nearly 100,000 times per minute.

So next time you go for a walk out in the yard, park or woods, take a moment to appreciate the floral movers and shakers around you. They may seem completely still. But they’re stretching, swaying — and maybe even winding up for launch.

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