PRESSBotanical Movements
Rapid
movements in plants and fungi (which share the important
feature of a cell wall that allows the cells to sustain
pressures of upto 10 atm.) though rare, are essential
for a variety of functions such as defense, pollination,
nutrition and seed and spore dispersal. The diversity
of these movements which range from explosive failure
of seed pods to rapid swelling of cells begs the questions:
Are there physical limits to the speed of movements
? Are there any design principles to be gleaned from
these examples ? We think so.
 Related Article
Physical limits and design principles
for plant and fungal movements,
J. Skotheim and L. Mahadevan, Science, 308,
1308-10, 2005. 
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