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Why does the morning glory grow well in sunlight?

The morning glory likes the strong sunlight of summertime. You can see a lot of healthy green leaves wherever sunlight shines well on a morning glory. When sunlight shines on a leaf, what kind of change will happen? Let's think about the elements necessary for growth.


Let's examine what differences occur between a leaf covered in aluminum foil (to keep sunlight off of it for one day) and a leaf that gets sunshine.


The first experimental group contains 5 leaves that were wrapped in aluminum foil for a day. The second group contains 5 leaves that all got sunshine and weren't covered up. Grind down each group. The leaves wrapped and kept in the dark (the first group) have a lighter green color than the leaves that weren't wrapped.

Pour a little water into the mushy paste of each group. Then pour the supernatant from each into a small dish. The first group (the one that was covered) has a lighter color than the other group.

After a while, you will see something precipitating (gathering) at the bottom of the plate. Slowly dispose of the supernatant by pouring it out. Then drop 1-2 drops of iodine-iodokalium liquid solution onto the bottom of each plate. Iodine-iodokalium liquid solution dyes starch in black.

The precipitate of the second group (the group that wasn't covered) turns a little bit black. When light shines on a leaf, the leaf uses the light to make the nourishment it needs for growth. This nourishment is called starch.

Now let's turn a flower that bloomed beautifully into a pressed flower


We are glad when a pretty flower blooms after we have taken care to water a morning glory plant every day and to give it manure. To make a memento of a plant, let's press the flower or leaf and make a picture of it by striking a dye of a flower and leaf so that we can enjoy it always.
On the left: After putting a flower or a leaf between two folds of a sheet of Japanese paper, we stamp it carefully with a bottle or a wooden mallet. Then we can copy the resulting images.
On the right: After putting the leaf or flower between sheets of Japanese paper, we put a weight on it for about 1 week. Because a petal is easily torn off, we open the paper with great care.

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