I’ve been told several times that keeping flowers in the room where you sleep is dangerous because flowers “suck” the oxygen out of the room. I know that green plants use carbon dioxide and release oxygen, but I guess I had never really thought about whether the same is true of flowers. Is there actually any truth to the dangerous oxygen-sucking flower story?
flowers don’t suck oxygen, foliage does, but not to the extent that, say a human in bed beside you would (or even a cat sleeping on your bed).
Unless you live in a hermetically sealed room, it’s unlikely to pose a problem, you’re more likely to be bothered by insects living in/on the plant.
Not sure if the O[sub]2[/sub] sucking is true or not but I do know that when my mother was a nurse (late 1950’s) they did remove flowers from the bedside at night in the belief it was true.
Just to clarify, plants use oxygen simply because they are alive and respiring, they do this during the daytime too, but usually during daylight hours, the oxygen that they are producing as a by-product of photosynthesis outweighs the oxygen they consume.
Magnetout is absolutely right, but I assume we are talking about cut flowers which have been seperated from the plant. For all intents and purposes, these are dead. I can’t see them changing the gas makeup in the room any more than a bowl of potpurri. There may be some respiration from bacteria and fungi as the flowers begin to decompose, but I would expect this to be negligible.
-Beeblebrox
“We’ve got to find out what people want from fire, how they relate to it, what sort of image it has for them.”
The crowd were tense. They were expecting something wonderful from Ford.
“Stick it up your nose,” he said.
“Which is precisely the sort of thing we need to know,” insisted the girl, “Do people want fire that can be fitted nasally?”
Negative. Cut flower tissues continue to live and even continue photosynthesis long after they are cut, if you put them in water.
I vaguely remember hearing this too, specifically in reference to sickrooms, but it’s debunked as an old wives’ tale in the book “Does Mom Know Best?” (reviewed here).
Many health resources now recommend putting flowers in sickrooms to brighten the place up and cover up more medicinal smells.
This is absolutely ridiculous, but there is a related effect that may be connected this urban legend.
Recent research indicates that infection rates are higher for patients who received flowers than for patients who received no flowers. This research was done in burn wards, where infection rates are rather high and suceptibility is high. However, it seems to have a weak statistical correlation for other conditions where you’re suceptible to infections. It only stands to reason that if you have potted plants in dirt, or flowers with vases full of water with contamination from soil, it’s going to be a source of bacteria and fungus.
I stand corrected.
Thanks for all the answers. I learned a lot from you guys!
Papaver somniferum will get you a long stretch in the federal pen. How’s that for dangerous? 