This Flower changes color when Radiation levels are dangerous

The Spiderwort flower is a category of 'survival plant' all of its own. When radiation levels are dangerous to roughly human standards, the blue/purple stamen hairs in the center of the flower change color to pink. And it grows hardy.



Several species of the New World Tradescantia genus exhibit this feat. The stamen hairs are one of the few tissues known to serve as an effective bioassay for ambient radiation levels. This could be an easy solution to some of Japans problems that they could really use with all that they face.

This plant has water-dense roots. They are soft roots, but the plant survives as if it has a solid bulb. It can die back to the ground for extended periods, yet spring right back up with water. It's likely that it would be one of the first plants to regrow after a semi-direct nuclear bomb aftermath, both that would spout and set abundant seeds.

The Japanese government could plant this all throughout areas known or suspected to be hotspots. These plants arent concerned with being watered by humans in order to survive. Imagine all the places in the world stricken with decades old landmines, if only the peoples there had such a hope of a natural endemic ubiqiutous warning system. Being rooted in the ground, and propped up into the air, it seems obvious its detection abilities would cover both planes, although I am not certain.

reply to post by IgnoranceIsntBlisss


A natural geiger counter then? (in a way).

Nature is totally amazing really.

reply to post by Flavian


Yes. "Geiger Counter Plant" is a proper name for it.

It turns out that its also edible:

The stems, leaves and flowers of spiderworts are edible. The herbage may be eaten raw or added to stews. The flowers (which may be either pink, blue or rose-purple) make an attractive edible garnish for salads.
www.gpnc.org...

Bonus

Since it's safe to eat, the roots hold enough water that one might be able to survive water starved situations as well.

Very awesome. These should be mass-produced and planted in every area with some risk of radiation. Nature really does take care of itself.

reply to post by IgnoranceIsntBlisss


Wow! I think I am going to have to get me a bunch of spiderwort and plant them in my yard, in my grandmas yard and in various other locations. Beautiful and multi-functional.

Thank you for this info. Star and Flag.

Interesting find. The spiderwort is a native wildflower to my Area and flourish quite well here. Perhaps I should build a flower of for some and have some planted among the rest of my plants.

S&F to you.

Cool flower.

OK so I want some. Couple questions. If you dont mind.
I live in New England, dangerously up wind of one of the worst graded operating nuke power plants. So can it grow all year round indoors.

and....

looking up the wheres and the hows there are many varieties of this. Any one variety better then the other?
Thanks in advance and wicked cool thread.

reply to post by BlastedCaddy

I just tried looking again for specifics about the ideal species / varieties. From what I've read I don't think it's too specific about the strain as long as the hairs are blue or purple opposed to white or pink. Considering that I would avoid buying more red leaning flowers to maintain the contrast and be sure.

Most species can deal just fine with surviving cold winters, they just wont have flowers obviously. It likes sun and warmth, and flowers all warm season as long as it keeps moist.

And some things I've read indicate that it's more sensitive than instrumentation, with the color mutation happening at any levels above ambient.

Apparently it has been a popular garden specimen in English gardens since the 1600's, and as hardy as I know it is, you can bet its naturalized in places there. Now if you do notice a thicket of it growing with pink hairs I wouldn't go insane right away, as it might just be the strain, although as far as I know the most common hairs are ideally colored to provide the desired effect.

Think of the irony.

If we could look into the distant Earth future, or at advanced alien civilizations, we might actually mistake them for being primitive.

They could be using plants as sensor devices...

This all goes to remind me of biological computing really. If we were extremely advanced technologically, we could design the genetic blue prints for a plant with uses like this and then farm them as needed. We could design them for any purpose you could imagine, the sky is the limit.

Just imagine all of the feats we could accomplish with advanced knowledge of genetics and organic chemistry.

Also imagine how we would "power" our "organic devices".

What powers a real flower? Photosynthesis? Chlorophyll?

Now imagine if we were designing plants to achieve specific technological objectives, such as a flower like this that can detect radiation and reveal it through visual cues (color change).

How do you power such an "organic device"? Couldn't we just design them to use normal plant sugars created through photosynthesis as a power source?

Remember that old TV show called "SeaQuest"? The submarine they served on in the show was called "organic" as well.

This is a commonly overlooked but very fascinating topic with endless potentials to speculate about.

Originally posted by gypsycat
reply to post by IgnoranceIsntBlisss

 

Wow! I think I am going to have to get me a bunch of spiderwort and plant them in my yard, in my grandmas yard and in various other locations. Beautiful and multi-functional.

Thank you for this info. Star and Flag.

I bought some and they were beautiful, the gophers ate them all withing a short time, so I suggest if that is a problem where you live put them in wire cages or pots.

interesting, they should have clarified which of the 70 species. i doubt Wandering Jew's flowers would be one..

maybe hirsutiana?

Originally posted by muzzleflash
Think of the irony.

If we could look into the distant Earth future, or at advanced alien civilizations, we might actually mistake them for being primitive.

They could be using plants as sensor devices...

This all goes to remind me of biological computing really. If we were extremely advanced technologically, we could design the genetic blue prints for a plant with uses like this and then farm them as needed. We could design them for any purpose you could imagine, the sky is the limit.

Just imagine all of the feats we could accomplish with advanced knowledge of genetics and organic chemistry.

edit on 29-3-2012 by muzzleflash because: (no reason given)

YES. I have thought about this sooo much. "More advanced," in our terminology basically means more advanced down our current trajectory. But what if the curve of evolution brings us back around to looking like cave men, but with magic plants and the like... hahaha.

I've been taking bio courses these last 2 semesters, and plants are getting more and more interesting. Plants and bacteria, and bacteria phages are the advanced tech of the future. Things like terra-forming, (photosynthetic bacteria for oxygen) (certain plants for heavy metal removal/retention) (bacteria phages to reduce and eliminate the use of antibacterials..

There are so many things... We can go in so many directions. I am part cherokee (a lil bit ) and I truly feel that plants are our best allies. Dog's go right up near the top of that list as well, even with a healing power of their own. Nature is Cool as $#%*..

Originally posted by muzzleflash
Also imagine how we would "power" our "organic devices".

What powers a real flower? Photosynthesis? Chlorophyll?

Now imagine if we were designing plants to achieve specific technological objectives, such as a flower like this that can detect radiation and reveal it through visual cues (color change).

How do you power such an "organic device"? Couldn't we just design them to use normal plant sugars created through photosynthesis as a power source?

Remember that old TV show called "SeaQuest"? The submarine they served on in the show was called "organic" as well.

This is a commonly overlooked but very fascinating topic with endless potentials to speculate about.

short answer is yes. Sunlight as a source of power. Self replicating/self protecting technology would result. Think of having technology that "wants," to work and keep working...

Of course the issue of your right over other organisms rights will be our new social morality problem of the future (think plant slavery)... haha. This topic has me all excited...


Many RTS games speak on this issue. For instance look at Star Craft. You have 3 races. Humans who go down our current path into the future. They are metallic with huge machines, some antigrav tech, but also still with fan baldes for ventillation. Then you have ZERG, who are completely organic. Their buildings are all living creatures that auto heal. Then you have the protoss who evolved to have psychic abilities and tech that mirrors that psychic feel. Their tech is more like magic than the other two..

I know, ironic with my name, but I would take that gene. If it were safe to add a gene without truncating proteins or changing entire families of genes I would say go for it. We can't yet, but maybe one day when we know more than .000002% of how genetics work.

Imagine having your lawn turn red if it came into contact with a good dose of radiation. Hell, with tweaking it could change the amount of radiation required before it changes, letting you get a heads up before it gets too dangerous. You could make a killing

Wtf am I saying?....damn, Im talking like my enemy...

How log does the color change take? My guess is that by the time you see pink you've been seriously irradiated.

Originally posted by trollz
Very awesome. These should be mass-produced and planted in every area with some risk of radiation. Nature really does take care of itself.

How do you mass produce a plant?
Is Monsanto going to take this challenge head on?

I keep thinking about the subject it's fun.

Just imagine, we could grow parts for machines from designer plants, like growing a hard material into cogs or beam shapes so that we could build something with it.

Think of growing all of your car parts, and then running the vehicle on sunlight and photosynthesis.

What about weapons? Instead of landmines you could use plants that have proximity detection sensors designed into them and when someone gets close it would shoot out poison gas or it could fire out all kinds of poison spines.

However I see many problems with creating computers with organic materials. Conducting electricity would become an issue. But there is the DNA style computers which could be at least partially organic.

I will have to think about that more and see what I come up with.
So maybe not every single technology need can be filled by plants but I am sure we can get at least 90% of them easily covered.

Originally posted by Dustytoad

There are so many things... We can go in so many directions. I am part cherokee (a lil bit

) and I truly feel that plants are our best allies. Dog's go right up near the top of that list as well, even with a healing power of their own. Nature is Cool as $#%*..

I am also part Cherokee and also agree that plants are our best allies.

Oh and your 2nd post where you brought up StarCraft that's a great example of the diversity and divergence of the different types of technology that could be possible. Of course there are only 3 options in the video game but in real life who knows what wonders lie out there in our nearby galactic neighborhood?

There could be literally dozens or hundreds of totally different styles, methods, or modes of technological development.

It is an exceptionally interesting plant. Seemingly it is useful to have around the home too...

As a houseplant, T. pallida has been judged exceptionally effective at improving indoor air quality by filtering out volatile organic compounds, a class of common pollutants and respiratory irritants, via a process known as phytoremediation.[4]

en.wikipedia.org...

...especially for those with asthma, and similar respiratory problems...hospitals would benefit...in fact any number of places...good for urban environment too.

Very nice find OP