By Susan Milius
Ah, that heart-lifting drag reduction and torsional stiffness. Or, put another way, “the particular liveliness of daffodils in gusty winds.”
Duke University biomechanics specialists Shelley A. Etnier and Steven Vogel in Durham, N.C., use both kinds of language in their analysis of daffodils and tulips. Daffodils indeed dance in the wind, the researchers note in the January American Journal Of Botany, citing previous work by William Shakespeare.
Etnier and Vogel studied blossoms in a wind tunnel and also measured the stems’ bending under the burden of various weights.