Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2023 December 22

= December 22 =

Bamboo that blossoms once every 130 years
I read the article Bamboo_blossom. There is no reference to how that synchronous interval counting works. Ant ideas? Zarnivop (talk) 00:02, 22 December 2023 (UTC)
 * A bamboo grove is often one genetic individual that spread out by underground rhizomes. Even if there are several individuals, they are from the same cohort. Now, just how they know how many years have passed is a different question. You can read the unsatisfying synchronous flowering article. Abductive  (reasoning) 09:17, 22 December 2023 (UTC)
 * We are not talking a single grove here. All that genus flowers simultaneously once every 120 year. Zarnivop (talk) 05:34, 23 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I heard that populations of bamboo distantly removed from each other might be out of sync. Don't know about this genus. But the "cohort" rule still applies. Abductive  (reasoning) 14:48, 23 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Quoting from [my underlining for emphasis]:
 * The lack of environmental impact on the time of flowering indicates the presence of some sort of "alarm clock" in each cell of the plant which signals the diversion of all energy to flower production and the cessation of vegetative growth.1 This mechanism, as well as the evolutionary cause behind it, is still largely a mystery.
 * --Lambiam 09:23, 22 December 2023 (UTC)
 * The evolutionary pressure is explained in one of the links to one of the associated articles. Basically bamboos with double the intemittency of their competitors will produce more seeds when they bloom, this pressure is one way, so it doubles and doubles and doubles, to 128. https://web.archive.org/web/20150517210059/http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/15/bamboo-mathematicians/ Greglocock (talk) 22:58, 22 December 2023 (UTC)
 * It is an essential part of the article, yes, but it's not relevant to "mechanism" header, which is sorely lacking. Zarnivop (talk) 05:36, 23 December 2023 (UTC)
 * The problem is, how do you study it? A grad student has five years to collect all their data and write it up, and you would need variability. Back in August I created a stub on a species, Strobilanthes flexicaulis, (not a grass); it has one variety that does synchronous flowering every six years, and one variety that just flowers yearly. Something like it would be more amenable to study. Abductive  (reasoning) 14:52, 23 December 2023 (UTC)

Only a mere 40 or so years ago, there appeared in The Times a letter from Ronald Neame wondering about just this phenomenon, the cause of which "the local soothsayers and village sybils" of Selling were at a loss to explain. The previous day I had coincidentally found myself on a chalk escarpment overlooking a wide vista of "The Garden of England", and was unfortunately moved to versify my reply; and although the letters editor of that august paper decided not to print my scribblings, I reproduce my effort here just because there isn't enough poetry on the RefDesks. And anyway, as quoted above, "This mechanism...is still largely a mystery."

Selling

High on a hill in Kent I stood And watched the world go by, Wondering what all my questions meant And whether the answers I found were good If they all led back to Why?

Marvelling at the seasons' change I laid my questions down — Somehow all the need for reasons Fled as I watched the Autumn arrange His bridal Earth's gold gown.

But the tyrant horizon pushed my gaze Past clouds where sunlight cowered: These loves must fail, desires be hushed, Our memories will fade of Summer's haze Because the bamboo has flowered. MinorProphet (talk) 21:49, 23 December 2023 (UTC)


 * (cuogh) Thanks. Irrelevant, but the effort is appreciated. Zarnivop (talk) 09:48, 25 December 2023 (UTC)