A Flower Coming to Life… Part 1

We all love flowers. They come in all shapes, sizes and colours – just like we do! I have a lot of plants in my garden and a considerable number of them are floral plants. More specifically, my garden is filled with a lot of mogra plants. Since the onset of summer, they have been blessing us with plenty of flowers. Everyday, we wake up curious and excited to see how many mogra flowers have bloomed that day. It is such a great way to start our day!

Due to a chance observation that mogra flowers bloom in the early evening, I got interested in watching them bloom. Subsequently, I set up a camera and managed to capture some amazing footages. Watching them bloom into their full glory filled my heart with joy and I hope it fills yours too!

The development and blooming of a flower is a highly complex process. Many aspects of this process have been under a lot of scientific research, however, there is still a lot left to discover.

Flower development primarily includes three stages.

Floral transition
Transformation of apical meristem
Growth of floral organs

Floral transition

Flowering is an important aspect of a plant’s life cycle. It is an important phase change that ensures reproductive success. Floral transition is the phase where the plant attains sexual maturity and prepares itself for flower production. It includes various morphological and physiological changes. This change must take place under favorable conditions. As a result, flowering is regulated by various internal as well as external cues. Internal cues are generally in the form of hormonal changes, age and carbohydrate status, while external cues include temperature and photo-periods.

Photoperiod refers to the time for which a plant is exposed to sunlight in a day. Various circadian-rhythm related genes are involved in the response to photoperiods. The seasonal changes in plants are mainly in response to changes in temperature. Some flowering plants require exposure to cold periods followed by warm temperatures for flowering. This process is termed vernalisation.

All the above cues are interpreted through complex signals known as florigens which are largely gene regulated. They are produced in the leaves under favourable conditions and induce budding and growth.

Overall floral transition is regulated by five major pathways

Photoperiod pathway
Vernalization pathway
Gibberellin pathway
Age pathway
Autonomous pathway

That’s all for today! We will discuss the remaining stages of flower development in Part 2.

This time, I tried some new elements with my blog and I hope you enjoyed reading. Part 2 will be posted soon. If you want to be notified when I post Part 2, enter your email address below and confirm your subscription through the email. Happy Reading!

Edit: Part 2 is finally out! You can check it out here.