Interesting question. In this universe all are interlinked. Certainly there should be some effect.

We speak lunar effect on human (Astrology).

Check the following you may get some information.

Can moonlight affect plant growth?

(https://permacultureprinciples.com/post/moonlight-affect-plant-growth/)

The Moon and Plant Growth

Nature 158, 572–573 (1946)

Abstract

BELIEFS that phases of the moon have a differential effect on the rate of development of plants are both ancient and world-wide. Proof by rational experiment seems to have been sought more hundred and fifty years ago by La Quin-tins the horticulturist, and some years later by Dunamel du Monceau1, the forester. Neither obtained any positive evidence of lunar influence. Since then, scientific interest in the subject has been revived intermittently, either by the ‘rediscovery’ of lunar rites in the agriculture of civilized countries, or by the impact on Europeans of the impressive faith of primitive peoples, particularly in the tropics and sub-tropics.

There are many plants that flower at night, like Datura, many cactus species like the Torch cactus, and night blooming jasmine, for example. It may be that they are attracting nocturnal pollinators, and correlating blooming to their migration or to the full moon. Plants could be using the full moon's duration of light over a few days to mediate specific chronological developments, perhaps, but I haven't found any research measuring anything like that. It could be that the tidal influence has an effect on plants, or maybe they have a reaction to the course of the lunar pattern over a year.

Since the moon is so old and plants have evolved so much, it actually seems, from the little research I have uncovered, that plants may actually have this system of mechanisms buried and it is mostly lost on the surface, since they dont need the advantage. So looking for a reaction to the lunar cycle might be inconspicuously buried in the cell-differentiation strategies of very long lived trees rather than in the blooming of night-blooming cactus flowers.

I am hoping to learn a lot of palebotany in the course of this project, since i believe the genes or cell-lines/processes related to the lunar cycle, in plants, are ancient. I am hoping that the variant evolution of these genes can be used as a marker, or another tool, to track plant family divergences.

First identify the radiations emitted from moon & then study the spectra to have an overview.

Hi! Tristan,

Yes, some plants especially bloom in night, Night-queen etc. etc. Pollination is another reason. Even bats help in that they move in night and help in pollination.

Check the following links. Check similar articles. Interesting research is going on.

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27030087)

Influence of lunar cycles on growth of Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera [L.] Dunal)

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4895751/)

@Dilip if we talk about radiation that becomes another topic.

Thank you Jetty Ramdevi !!

This is a indeed very important as well as very exciting subject to be explored. As you mentioned in the question itself, moon or lunar cycles have has great impact on plants growth but thats the another issue to be concerned about. Moon directly or indirectly influences the metabolism in plants and thats where is starts getting exciting.

Charak Samhita and Ayurveda, two of my favourite botanical literatures states that medicinal values in the plants are all influenced by lunar cycles. Furthermore, moon along with other abiotic factors such as rain, temperature and even formation of constellation such as ”swati nakshtra”influences the formation of comounds such as “Camphor”

Thank you Jemin! I agree, metabolism is what is most interesting, and tracking down how it is inter-related [from genetics, to location within the plant, and input from the soil and air], as well as correographed to natural environmental patterns, like the lunar cycle. Tracing the evolution of metabolic systems, from specialized cells to special pathways that make useful compounds for the plant, is also important, and the lunar cycle may likely be connected to a plant's sense of control over its development

Also, yes, I have found references to Ayurvedic literature mentioning essentially the seasonality of herbs, or the influence of special times to plants and what kind of compounds they have, or how much.

A big basis for this line of reasoning, to me, is in that the length of lunar intensity at night changes periodically throughout the year, in a more or less stable pattern. As the length of day gets longer or shorter and the length of night vice versa, the moon is rising around 50 minutes later every day and this generates the full moon effect, every month for a few days. So in the summer, the full moon is shortest, and in the spring, the nights are becoming shorter. There are so many stimuli, from the gravity of the moon, to the light and heat that bounces onto us, and the orbital pattern that causes a constant and stable flux of these factors, on the timescales of a month and a year

Trisatn your description details about all factors. Follow to investigate them, then you come up with all the answers. Good Luck!!!

Actually, i was thinking that if moonlight genes could be discovered from related metabolic changes, that they may exist as either artifacts or modified gene systems across the plant kingdom and that these moonlight gene types could be used to track differentiation in plant evolution.

I'm calling the hypothetical genes "moonlight genes" and I am hoping to find a way to track systems in plants with markers like the moonlight genes. This could help better engineer transgenic plants by better engineering systems to facillitate desired molecular products

like biodiesel from algae into corn plants, for example, or the molecule taxol whih comes from Yew trees into an easier plant to grow.

I can understand the word 'moonlight' genes may be a hypothetical term for time being. But it is a fact, may be Circadian rhythms work on some external stimuli like light or temperature

Interesting information is available.

Seems some are working on PhD projects like you.

Check the following they may help you.

Moonlight activities for cyclin genes in plants (MOUBAYIDINJ18RS)

(https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/moonlight-activities-for-cyclin-genes-in-plants-moubayidinj18rs/?p105588)

How plants tell the time

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1479754/pdf/bj3970015.pdf)

Moonlight in Vermont illuminates plant development

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1794426/pdf/gb-2006-7-12-334.pdf)

MoonProt: a database for proteins that are known to moonlight

(https://watermark.silverchair.com/gku954.pdf?token=AQECAHi208BE49Ooan9kkhW_Ercy7Dm3ZL_9Cf3qfKAc485ysgAAAjswggI3BgkqhkiG9w0BBwagggIoMIICJAIBADCCAh0GCSqGSIb3DQEHATAeBglghkgBZQMEAS4wEQQMg1JLf-RVy_Lirc2mAgEQgIIB7r_mPaHtNv-Hz_xMmFriqvuI8rHGW6FhGeoFSZ1vWeZKl2pQOp7xseE0J0kYLTWdlSpGz2s3S460Dfzx2mxS9qo98TkZXrDlqPaCrtKsM95fkwJCPaeuuYkb_pTc-xlY3h2oJaNoysXuXRjxNuYxKHdEnO4mbz75ZFo20GY-5-sd4YJc3jcaLmPES0jFh0KNMa4Hko4CwHD-sK1kVTcYq8BwPeteFaDv3fL9B0afGPC_3yiueVzsWRxWLPSG7Ml5gVcMcs0KZL7daPdrhzUMk4fvBMAspQt70SroyQJG0uxkKUYVgdJHljhTq2oSaV1MrarmVL99oAtYQ22rXlJl7EbFTaTq9zhNQVcA7yP2NgDIud_Yoy-vNOM1cqM19YVNlg6yibbfpTQPolJ4l21tGvJP2M3199fcO8pGwsA8FEzbD89-V23fSc-roLeyRCitCdRMv8kPv5pEH98vwCEMGfi_Yqlii1qymzIlY7Z_HAlGqNiA8f27wk7IFikyfBGl4YieOC31z2emuoFDnaT6EXhJMcKYNNO6yHkoNbtYUgdSU4r4EQUpeQNT9gFk6MVVkQ-56rq--e5e7f-9NeuwTja3tX3-eVXjHIfjuG3hoMMYRp1PkcuWhHpBGo0EwMOKxDiucH1Zk5PJ0CxAs9HG)

Moonlight controls lunar-phasedependency and regular oscillation of clock gene expressions in a lunar-synchronized spawner fsh, Goldlined spinefoot

(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5906463/pdf/41598_2018_Article_24538.pdf)

Thank you Jetty Ramadevi!! I appreciate your interest and contributions to the discussion very much.