A group of Nobuyuki Nagaoka, a guide for nature observation at the Yamagata Prefectural Natural Botanical Garden, Akiko Sakai of the Ecological Research Center of Kyoto University, and Masashi Naoe, Senior Researcher of the National Forest Research Institute, is a group of plants belonging to the family Gassan in Yamagata Prefecture. It was found that the Miyamanigauri wraps its fruits in leaves in the fall and forms a state like a greenhouse.
According to Kyoto University, Mr. Nagaoka discovered that Miyamanigauri wraps its fruits in autumn in 2008 while observing at the natural botanical garden for many years.In 2018, we conducted a joint survey with Professor Sakai and Senior Researcher Naoe, thinking that the leaves might protect the fruits from the cold, and it was confirmed that wrapping them in leaves promotes the growth of the fruits.
Bitter melon is a first-year vine.It blooms in midsummer, and as the season progresses, the leaves wrap around the fruit.There was little temperature change inside the leaves, and the temperature itself was up to 1 degrees higher on a sunny day.Removing the leaves that wrap the fruit reduced the growth and survival rate of the fruit.
The leaves of plants are organs for photosynthesis, but the leaves of bitter melon have few chloroplasts.By forming a greenhouse-like state, it not only survived the harsh winter cold of Yamagata, but also prevented insects from coming.The research group says that the leaves for flowering and fruiting are extremely rare, specializing in protecting the fruits, as the leaves have not been known so far.
Paper information:[Proceedings of the Royal Society B] Green greenhouse: leaf enclosure for fruit development of an androdioecious vine, Schizopepon bryoniifolius
