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Observing flowers, you can notice one interesting point. Many of them close their buds at night. There are several theories to explain this color behavior. Here are some of them.
Insect protection
Many insects that are awake during the day seek shelter at night from the cold and other hazards. Flower buds can be a great hiding place for them. But flowers, like other living things, are constantly evolving, and many of them began to close at night to prevent intruders from spending the night in their buds. Of course, this does not always help, because some insects are closely monitoring the situation and have learned to fly into the bud before it closes completely in order to comfortably spend an unfriendly time of day in the warmth.
Pollen dew protection
Pollen is very important for plants, because they reproduce through it. During the night, dew accumulates on flowers, which can damage pollen. Moisture makes the pollen hard and pollination insects cannot transfer it from flower to flower. Thus, plants that close overnight provided protection against extinction.
Cold protection
Sometimes summer nights are very cold, and this can cause the death of important parts of the flower - the pistil and stamens. If we add to this the night dew formation, then the plant can simply freeze and die. The closed bud accumulates the heat accumulated during the day and allows the flower to comfortably wait out the dark and cold time of the day.
Disguise from nocturnal predators
During the day, flowers delight the eye with their beauty, but at night they do not need extra attention. The fact is that many animals feed at night, since daytime forays are very dangerous for them - they themselves can be eaten. Many small owls like to nestle comfortably on the inflorescences, waiting for the insects to appear to eat them. Such a neighborhood is not too pleasant for delicate and fragile flowers. After all, owls, although small, but under their weight, the flower can break, and from their sharp claws severe damage can remain, so the flowers have figured out how to avoid this.
What flowers close for the night
Flowers react to sunlight. During the day, they can turn after the sun, and when it sets, they can close together. For the most part, flowers that initially grow in unfavorable conditions, in places where there are very cold nights, raging winds or frequent precipitation, have this method of protection.
In this way, water lilies react to the lack of sunlight. Tulips and hibiscus also hide their beauty at night.
