A very expressive plant: Spathiphyllum reactions to water stress

After two weeks without watering, the plant seems to desperately cry for help, showing leaves completely falling on the ground… Fortunately, such a state is reversible, and the plant soon recovers its shape after watering!  What is so specific about this plant?

Anatomically, the petioles attaching the leaves to the ground behave as a hinge: they a U-shape section instead of a round shape, and contain a lot of water rich soft tissue. When the plant is dry the U-shaped base strongly bends; this is analogous to the bending of a carpenter's tape folding under sufficient load, except that the transition we observe here is slower.

Inspired by these observations, we introduce a biomimetic hinge: it is a rubber ribbon containing cavities whose U-shape section can be changed by pneumatic pressure. It offers a programmable bending stiffness and can suddenly bend under load reproducing the plant phenomenon.

For more information, have a look at:

• the scientific article in Quantitative Plant Biology,
• this short video for the general public on the LIPhy YouTube channel.