Heat Generating Plants

From Science News Online: Some plants can generate enough heat to exceed 30�C near the inflorescence, even when the outside temperature is just above freezing. Generally, these plants are in groups of plants that are understood to be the direct descendants of the most ancient flowering plants including arums, magnolias and water-lilies.

There seem to be several possibilities for this innovation: attracting insects via the heat-induced odours of the chemical compounds of some of these plants (smelling like rotten flesh) or providing insects a high-temperature "night-club" where they can gather and expend less energy while they mate (and in the process pollinate the plants). However, other possibilities probably exist, as some of these plants undergo this heat-generating process in early spring under cover of snow (with likely none to few insect pollinators available).

Link:

Warm Blooded Plants? from Science News Online.

Posted by Daniel Mosquin at 1:00 AM on December 18, 2003