Skeleton Flower Life Cycle: From Seed to Dormancy
Explore the seasonal cycle of the Skeleton Flower, a plant whose petals turn transparent with rain before it retreats underground for its annual renewal.
The Skeleton Flower, Diphylleia grayi, is a unique perennial native to the moist, wooded mountainsides of Japan and China. This plant is most recognized for its delicate white flowers that possess a remarkable quality: they turn transparent when touched by rain. As a deciduous plant, it follows a distinct annual cycle, emerging in the spring and dying back in the winter.
Germination and Early Growth
The life of a Skeleton Flower begins either from seed or through the division of its underground stem, known as a rhizome. Starting from seed can be a slow and challenging process. The seeds require a period of cold, moist conditions, a treatment called cold stratification, to break their natural dormancy. Once conditions are right in early spring, the seed will sprout. The initial growth of a seedling is slow as the young plant focuses its energy on establishing a strong root system. It may take a few years for a plant grown from seed to become mature enough to produce flowers.
Vegetative Growth and Flowering
Each spring, the established Skeleton Flower emerges from its dormant rhizome. The plant unfurls its large, deeply lobed, umbrella-like leaves that create a lush canopy. These distinctive leaves can grow up to 18 inches tall and help shelter the delicate flowers that follow.
From late spring into early summer, the plant enters its flowering stage. Small clusters of white flowers appear, held just above or below the large leaves. A fascinating attribute of these blooms is their transformation in the rain. The petals’ opacity is due to a loose arrangement of cells with air pockets, not white pigment. When water fills these spaces, the petals become crystal clear, revealing the vein structure within, and return to their opaque state as they dry.
Pollination and Fruiting
After the flowers have bloomed, they await pollination by insects active in their woodland environment. The pollinated flowers fade and the plant develops fruits as summer progresses. By late summer or early autumn, the plant bears its fruit in clusters. These fruits are small, deep blue berries held on reddish stalks. While these berries are not edible for humans, they are a source of food for wildlife and contain the seeds for the next generation of Skeleton Flowers.
Dormancy and Renewal
Once the fruiting period concludes, the plant prepares for winter. As autumn approaches and temperatures cool, the large leaves and stems turn yellow and die back as the plant enters a state of dormancy. The plant’s energy is conserved in the underground rhizome. This fleshy, horizontal stem acts as a storage organ, holding the nutrients needed to survive the winter and fuel its growth the following spring. Protected beneath the soil, the rhizome will send up new shoots when spring returns, beginning the life cycle anew.