“Why do flowers bloom?” Anushka and Hamsini from Delhi Public School, Secunderabad, ask. As the curious listeners joined Utsuka and Jigyasa in a garden one evening, they made an important observation about flowers. We all love the colorful petals of the flowers, but this curious group went a step ahead to question why they bloom at all!

In the fourth episode of season 03 of IndiaAsksWhy, we look at the mechanism of flowering and what are the causes for flowers to bloom. We learn that plants go through multiple steps to understand the right time to bloom. The curious group also spoke to a plant scientist, Prof. Mukesh Lodha, from Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), to understand how scientists study the molecules involved in blooming of flowers!

We’re sure this conversation between the curious group would have made you curious, too. You can send your follow-up questions on our website, and we’ll pick them up :)

Please write to indiaaskswhy@gmail.com if you'd like your school to be involved with IndiaAsksWhy.

Illustration

References

1. “30.12: Plant Development - Genetic Control of Flowers.” Biology LibreTexts, 16 July 2018, bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Book%3A_General_Biology_(Boundless)/.
2. “Photoperiodism | BioNinja.” Ib.bioninja.com.au,ib.bioninja.com.au/higher-level/topic-9-plant-biology/untitled-3/photoperiodism.html.
3. “How Do Plants Know When to Flower? | Wonderopolis.” Wonderopolis.org, wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-do-plants-know-when-to-flower.Kirchoff, Bruce K., and Riva A. Bruenn.
4. “How Do Banana Flowers Develop?” Frontiers for Young Minds, vol. 6, 20 Nov. 2018, https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2018.00060.

Credits

• Hosts: Shweata N. Hegde and Ruchi Manglunia
• Guest scientist: Prof. Mukesh Lodha
• Students: Anushka and Hamsini from Delhi Public School, Secunderabad
• Audio Editor: Shweata N. Hegde
• Episode cover: Asif Khan
• Transcriber: Khushi Goel
• Poster: Mrunal Kulkarni