The Fastest Flower in the West

Can you imagine a plant that moves so fast that science didn’t know what it was doing until recently? The plant is a forest wild flower found in North America and called the Bunchberry dogwood.

A few botanists had noted a strange “poof” associated with the plant, but no one knew what was going on. Researchers at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, were studying the plant when they experienced the “poof.” Wanting to track down what the plant was doing, they got a high-speed video camera that can shoot 1,000 frames per second. Amazingly, that camera was too slow to clearly catch what the plant was doing. So they got a higher-speed camera that could shoot 10,000 frames per second.

When they reviewed the video, they discovered that the flower was releasing pollen at an amazing speed. They calculated that the gravitational force on the pollen as it is released is 800 times the force astronauts endure when they blast into space. This wonder is accomplished by the flowers’ very elastic petals which are part of a design that looks like a trebuchet – a medieval catapult.

The amazing wonders of God’s creation should lead us to unceasingly praise Him, something which belief in evolution does not allow. Even if you try to add God to evolution, chance and natural forces still get the credit.

Psalm 105:5
“Remember his marvelous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth…”

Prayer: I praise You, Father, for all the wonders of Your creation. Help my life praise you before others as well. Amen.

Ref: Science News, 6/11/05, p. 381, “World’s Fastest Plant Explodes with Pollen.” Photo: Dogwood Flower (PD)