Ben Davis

April 21, 2019

Core Biology

Current Event 9

Giaimo, Cara. “Watch a Flower That Seems to Remember When Pollinators Will Come Calling.”

The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Apr. 2019,

www.nytimes.com/2019/04/20/science/plants-moving-memory.html.

For this week’s current event I read Cara Giaimo’s article “Watch a Flower That Seems to Remember When Pollinators Will Come Calling.” In her article, Giamo educates the reader about a plant known as the Nasa Poissonian found in the Peruvian Andes. Giamo states, “These plants can gymnastically wave around their stamens — the organs they use for fertilization — to maximize the distribution of their pollen.” She goes on to talk about a study that found that individual plants can adjust the timing of these movements based on their prior dealings with pollinators. The study adds to a previous interest of scientists known as plant memory. Next, Giamo goes back to talking about the history of the Nasa Poissonian. Nasa Poissonian belongs to a subfamily of plants called Loasoideae. They're known for their polychrome blooms, as well as for the “really painful” stinging hairs on their stems.” Loasoideae plants differ from other plants in the regard that most plants curl their leaves or catapult their seeds. However, many species of Loasaceae move their stamens: long, skinny filaments that are capped with pollen. As a result of flowers like the Nasa Poissonian can have fresh pollen for pollinators faster than other plants. Giamo ends her article talking about an experiment that figured out that Nasa Poissonian can anticipate when pollinators would visit. The Nasa  shows scientists how “exquisitely tuned plants are to their environment.”

This article as important implications on our society. So many people are allergic to pollen and plants like the Nasa Poissonian increase the amount in the air. This is thus making peoples spring much more difficult but better for the environment. Pollen allergies cause sore throats, itchy eyes, and runny noses. Another connection this article has to our society is that it shows how smart plants truly are. This article showcased the ability of plants to have memories. Maybe one-day plants will become even more advanced and do even more than they do for human life.

Overall I thought Giamo wrote a very strong article. She did a very good job including quotes and studies from various plant experts. For example, she quoted scientists from Botanical Gardens and wrote about an experiment done by Dr. Henning. Other things she did well was include background on the plant. This was important because it is easier to read about something when you are more familiar with the topic. Giamo talked about the origin of the Nasa Poissonian specifically where it can be found and the plant family it belongs to. I think Giamo could have done a stronger job explaining large vocabulary words that the common reader would not be familiar with. She used words like stamens and could have let the reader know more about pollen. This could be improved upon by asking someone not very educated on the topic to read her article and ask her questions.