Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 108, Issue 14, Pages 5516-5521Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1007808108
Keywords
mechanics; curvature reversal
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Funding
- Harvard-National Science Foundation Materials and Research Science and Engineering Center
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
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Despite the common use of the blooming metaphor, its floral inspiration remains poorly understood. Here we study the physical process of blooming in the asiatic lily Lilium casablanca. Our observations show that the edges of the petals wrinkle as the flower opens, suggesting that differential growth drives the deployment of these laminar shell-like structures. We use a combination of surgical manipulations and quantitative measurements to confirm this hypothesis and provide a simple theory for this change in the shape of a doubly curved thin elastic shell subject to differential growth across its planform. Our experiments and theory overturn previous hypotheses that suggest that blooming is driven by differential growth of the inner layer of the petals and in the midrib by providing a qualitatively different paradigm that highlights the role of edge growth. This functional morphology suggests new biomimetic designs for deployable structures using boundary or edge actuation rather than the usual bulk or surface actuation.
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