What plant does the "weather forecaster" in flowers refer to?
A kind of wonderful flower grows in Xishuangbanna, my country. Whenever a storm is about to come, many beautiful flowers will bloom. The red petals reflect the mountains and old forests and dye the cliffs red. Based on this characteristic, people can predict weather changes in advance, so they call it wind and rain flower.
Fengyuhua, also known as red jade curtain, calamus and leek, is an herbaceous flower of the Amaryllidaceae genus Allium. Its leaves are flat and linear, much like the long leaves of leeks, and are curved and hanging.
Scientists have discovered through research that the secret of the wind and rain flower's ability to predict wind and rain is because before the storm arrives, the atmospheric pressure decreases, the weather is sultry, and the plant's transpiration increases, causing its bulbs that store nutrients to produce a large amount of hormones. This hormone causes it to bloom many flowers.
Coincidentally, there is a magical flower growing in Australia and New Zealand that can also predict sunny days and rain, so everyone calls it the rain flower. This flower is very similar to our country's chrysanthemum. The petals are also long and come in various colors. The difference is that it is 2 to 3 times larger than the chrysanthemum. So, why can the rain flower predict the weather?
This is because the petals of the rainflower are very sensitive to humidity. On the eve of rain, the air humidity will increase. When the air humidity increases to a certain level, the petals will shrink and wrap the stamens tightly, which indicates that it will rain soon.
When the humidity in the air decreases, the petals will slowly unfold, which indicates a sunny day. Before local residents go out, they always take a look at the rain flower to know the weather conditions, so people affectionately call it the "weather forecaster".
The working people of our country can also predict the amount of rainfall from the color changes of peach blossoms. Because in different years, the color of peach blossoms is different. When the peach trees bloom purple-red flowers, it indicates that there will be less rainfall that year; and when the peach trees bloom pink flowers, it indicates that there will be more rain that year.