The buttercup

Radhika told me something interesting the other day.

If you pluck a buttercup and hold it up under your chin you will know if you like butter or not.

If the sunlight reflects on your chin you like butter, and If it doesn’t, you don’t.

‘It is a silly game we used to play when we were little, Daddy’ she hastened to add.

I was very intrigued of course. Any opportunity to learn form your children is not to be ignored. 

I had never looked closely at the buttercup before, and sure enough when I pay attention now I see that it has shiny petals!

As if someone had carefully spread butter on them before holding them up to the light (oh, I see how the name makes sense now).

But why? came the question bubbling up from the depths of my mind it it’s annoying little voice as usual.

Apparently there is both a why and a how.

How first (in a tiny bite size):

There is a layer of epidermis in the petal, beneath which lies another layer of airspace which acts as an optical distorter, essentially reverberating the light that comes through, aided by an irregular deeper layer of starch granules to scatter it.

Details here:

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2016.0933

And why?

Evolution and survival of course as usual.

1. The reverberating sunlight makes it glossy and attractive to pollinating insects from a further distance, better than other small flowers can achieve.

1. The satellite-dish shape of the buttercup makes the reflected light ricochet off the parabola of petals to bounce back into the centre where the reproductive organs are, again making it a more effective flower on cold spring mornings in temperate climates where sunlight may be sparse.

Apparently this layer of air tucked under the epidermis is not a big deal and is a common mechanism by which butterflies get their shiny wings.

What is interesting though is that the humble buttercup is one of the very rare examples of having this air layer in the plant kingdom!

None of the highly sought after, rich and famous celebrity flowers have this special feature.

Fascinating as always how nature beats mankind at every turn and how science allows us to acknowledge our irrelevance. 

 

I guess at least we have appreciation of beauty as the lone saving grace for our species:

https://youtu.be/FvluBVhfGcw