At what point is a picked flower considered dead?

Question

Let a flower be picked from the ground such that its stem is cut and the flower is separated from the root system (as in figure).

Questions:
1a. At what point is it considered dead?

Does the flower and attached bit of stem continue to live for some time before dying?

Is this like asking when an limb that has been chopped off an animal dies - should we considered not the flower, but the root system?

1b. How does one define death for an organism without a nervous system?

anongoodnurse · Accepted Answer

This is very much analogous to your "limb" suggestion, or, since the flower is a reproductive organ, one can ask,

At exactly what point is the uterus considered dead after a hysterectomy?

or,

At exactly what point are the testicles considered dead after a male dog is castrated?

The organism (woman and dog respectively) does not die. Tissue dies. Tissue dies all the time. Red Blood cells die after about 120 days, give or take. Skin cells die faster than that.

It depends on the definition of death. If one of the requirements for "life" is the ability to reproduce, are both the woman and the dog now dead? Of course not. They had the potential, or perhaps they already reproduced.

If one of the requirements for "life" is the ability to grow, well, the uterus and the testicles are dead immediately upon removal. But we stop "growing", and we don't die.

If one of the requirements for "life" is the ability to respond to its environment, the uterus and the testicles are not dead. They are "alive" for a time, though the environment is toxic to them if thrown away. If placed in nutritious media, they will "live" a bit longer.

Common sense, which often isn't reliable in science, would dictate that the flower dies when it can no longer maintain cell turgor, i.e. can no longer absorb fluids. But the argument can be made that it is only "dying" at that point.

Basically your question depends entirely on the definition of life. And that has not been agreed upon.

Kelly Arbor · Answer

For a time, a cut flower with a stem, when placed in water can still absorb water. If other nutrients are placed in the water (such as sugar) the flower can continue to absorb those nutrients. If the stem is cut just below the node, and the water is changed, some cut flowers can stay alive for a few weeks.  They are alive in that they continue to absorb nutrients through the stem (including water) and some types of cut flowers will visibly grow for a time. However, at a certain point, growth will stop and the flower will begin to wither. The process is more gradual than in an animal, so the moment of 'death' would not be observable.
That said there are some flowers that will grow new roots from the stem, such as geranium. In that case, the cutting can be considered part of a process of regeneration or reproduction.

At what point is a picked flower considered dead?

2 Answers

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question