Mountain Laurel: Pollen Dispersal by Catapult (Lyman Briggs)

Catapult?  Lyman Briggs?  Keep reading...


On Monday, I took the day off and went to Stone Mountain with my husband.  I know I have shown you photos of us clambering over the rocks to get to the top but did you know that there are miles of trails around the mountain? It was a  nice day so we walked under the newly green trees. One of the trails is beside a stream and the mountain laurel was blooming!

(A shout out to Ranger Robby ...last year in May, he gave me a tour on Mother's Day and we enjoyed the mountain laurel in bloom at Arabia Mountain.  Since you call yourself a science geek, I hope you like this post, Robby!)

Now, the flowers were really just beginning to flower but when they are fully opened, the filaments of the stamens will be bent towards the edges (think of the way the metal bits are like on the underside of an umbrella).  When an insect lands on the flower, it breaks the tension of those bits and the pollen then catapults the pollen on the insect!  The pollen can be flung up to 6 inches! 

The amazing thing... a man named Lyman Briggs first observed this in the 1950's after he had retired from an almost unbelievable accomplished career. You might recognize his name, he has a college named after him! You may read more about him here.  Lyman James Briggs,  I wish I could write a book about him! The Manhattan Project? Yes! He was involved in that too! Promise me you will read his story, he simply did too much for me to write in this post.  And his wife and daughter, you might know their names too from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (the MBTI) that many companies ask you to take.  (His wife was Katherine Cook Briggs and his daughter was Isabel Briggs Myers.) 


Reading a bit further, the reasoning behind the pollen dispersal was not what Mr. Briggs thought that it was, but by studying this flower and noticing the pollen, he brought attention to it.  I just saw a video by researchers at Harvard that shows the science behind it all.
I find it interesting...but honestly, you all know that I only see the beauty of the blooms on this mountain laurel!

And not to throw you a curve ball...but can you believe it, Lyman Briggs also proved the science of the curve ball in baseball!
I am not kidding! 

Let me leave you with this quote about him..."He was remembered for his range of interests...was almost universally liked and had a reputation of even headedness and serenity."  My kind of guy!  Why, I bet he also admired the beauty of the mountain laurel too, just as I am certain he enjoyed American baseball.  Just like me!