What Do Four-OClock Flowers, Budgerigars, and Mantis Shrimp Have In Common?
According to this Telegraph article, they all emit fluorescent light. The flowers, found in South America, are also known as four-o’clocks, marvel of Peru and beauty of the night. The team found that the flowers, which open in the afternoon, rely on fluorescence, so emitting green light rather than just reflecting it, a signalling system recorded before only in budgerigars and the mantis shrimp. They report in the journal Nature finding that the fluorescence emitted by one pigment, a yellow betaxanthin, is absorbed by another pigment, a violet betacyanin, to create a green fluorescent pattern on the petals. To attract bees and bats for pollination the team believes. (Even I can’t come up with a political connection for this story. But it is a neat finding.
