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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 8, 2025

Live Confocal Imaging of Developing Arabidopsis Flowers

Live Confocal Imaging of Developing Arabidopsis Flowers

Published on: April 1, 2017

Structural changes in Nelumbo flower petals during opening and closing.

Fumiko Ishizuna¹, Ukin Yo¹, Natsumi Yoshimura¹

¹Faculty of Contemporary Human Life Science, Tokyo Kasei Gakuin University, 2600 Aihara-machi, Machida-shi, Tokyo, 194-0292, Japan.

American Journal of Botany

|November 5, 2024

Summary

Flower petals of Nelumbo nucifera elongate and change cell size during opening and closing. This cellular fluctuation, particularly in the basal region, drives the daily movement of the lotus flower over four days.

Keywords:

Nelumbo nucifera cell size changes epidermal cells flower opening and closing petal elongation time‐lapse photography

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Area of Science:

Plant Biology
Botany
Floral Development

Background:

Nelumbo nucifera flowers exhibit daily opening and closing cycles for three days before petal abscission.
Detailed microscopic observations of Nelumbo flower movement and the underlying cellular mechanisms are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the cellular basis of petal movement and elongation in Nelumbo nucifera during its flowering period.
To determine if changes in petal cell size contribute to the observed opening and closing of lotus flowers.

Main Methods:

Time-lapse photography was used to record flower movements under controlled growth chamber conditions.
Scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy were employed to examine petal cell structure and size changes.

Main Results:

Petal cells, especially in the basal region of inner petals, showed significant size increases during the flowering period.
Outer and inner epidermal cells on both adaxial and abaxial sides of basal inner petals exhibited cyclical size changes, increasing during opening and decreasing during closing.
Inner petals demonstrated greater elongation compared to outer petals.

Conclusions:

Petal cell size fluctuations, particularly in the basal region, are a primary driver of the opening and closing movements in Nelumbo species flowers.
Differential cell enlargement on the adaxial and abaxial sides of petal cells contributes to the complex movements observed during flowering.