BACHELOR’S BUTTON: RATE OF

TRANSPIRATION

CENTAUREA CYANUS

more commonly known as “Bachelor’s button”

or “Cornflower”

annual flowering plant belonging to the

Asteraceae family

this herb easily cultivated in a wide variety of

soils

The flowers are hermaphrodites, meaning they

have male and female organs, and are

pollinated with the help of other organisms such

as insects.

MATERIALS & METHODS

FRIST COLLECTION

Date

Age of Plant

Organ Length Weight Width

Leaf 5.7 cm 0.43g 1.2cm

Stem 0.6cm 0.010g 0.3cm

Root 4 cm 0.001g 0.3cm

Whole plant

Length Weight Dry weight

10cm 0.43g 0.05g

SECOND COLLECTION

Date

Age of Plant

Organ Length Weight Width

Leaf 6.3cm 0.50g 0.7cm

Stem 0.7 cm 0.020g 0.3cm

Root 4.2cm 0.06g 0.3cm

Whole plant

Length Weight Dry weight

11cm 0.62g 0.07g

CROSS SECTION

THIRD COLLECTION

Date

Age of Plant

Organ Length Weight Width

Leaf 9.5cm 0.86g 0.7cm

Stem 1.5cm 0.08g 0.5cm

Root 4.1 cm 0.21g 0.4cm

Whole plant

Length Weight Dry weight

14.3cm 1.37g 0.17g

CROSS SECTION

FOURTH COLLECTION

Date

Age of Plant

Organ Length Weight Width

Leaf 13cm 2.50g 0.9cm

Stem 6.4cm 0.40 g 0.5cm

Root 8cm 0.29g 0.6 cm

Whole plant

Length Weight Dry weight

27.2cm 3.28g 0.23g

CROSS SECTION

FIFTH COLLECTION

Date

Age of Plant

Organ Length Weight Width

Leaf 19cm 6.97g 1.5cm

Stem 5cm 0.61g 0.6cm

Root 14 cm 1.73g 1 cm

Whole plant

Length Weight Dry weight

37.8cm 9.93g 0.42g

CROSS SECTION

TRANSPIRATION

Plant transpiration is the release of water vapor to the atmosphere through the stomata.

Approximately 10% of all moist found in the atmosphere is released by transpiration

many external factors contribute to the rate of transpiration in organisms.

Humidity and air movement have a close relationship in terms of affecting the rate of transpiration in plants

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A potometer, or

transpirometer was utilized.

A fan was added as a the

variable

The stem was cut and

connected to the tube.

The pipette was filled with

water

Every three minutes,

pipette was measured

RESULTS

According to the observations made during

the experiment Plant B, containing the

variable (wind), as shown in figure 1, show a

wide range of transpiration while the control

shows not transpiration at all.

TABLE 1: AVERAGE VALUES OF ABSORBED WATER

Time (minutes) Control (without breeze) Experimental (with breeze)

0 0.8975 0.8460

3 0.8950 0.8445

6 0.8973 0.8440

9 0.8970 0.7985

12 0.8970 0.7875

15 0.8970 0.7968

18 0.8968 0.7960

21 0.8965 0.7948

24 0.8965 0.7935

27 0.8965 0.7925

30 0.8960 0.7440

AVERAGE VALUES OF ABSORBED WATER

0.7

0.75

0.8

0.85

0.9

0.95

0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30

Pip

et

measu

men

ts (

mL

)

Time (minutes)

Average values of absobed water

Control (without breeze) Experimental (with breeze)

Pipet measurements are inversely proportional to the amount of water

transpired.

DISCUSSION

Table 1 demonstrated that after six minutes

the experimental plant absorbed more

quantities of water that the control plant.

Wind carries away the humid air over the

plant’s surface, this increases the rate of

water evaporation, which increases the rate

of transpiration.

Increase air circulation increase the rate of

transpiration.

The hypothesis of this investigation was

proven to be true because the environmental

factor, wind, did in fact increase the rate of

transpiration of the Centaurea cyanus plant