Is it Circadian Rhythm or are they just tired?

Circadian Rhythm..a name given to the "internal clock" that regulates the biological processes in a living thing. Yep, it is a couple of big words that basically mean things just get tired and go to sleep. Nah..just teasing..I really do not know what it means. I was just reading where it is this Circadian Rhythm stuff that makes Mimosa leaves close up at night. I have no clue..I just always figured the tree knew it was nighttime and it needed to rest. I was thinking about this the other evening when out for my stroll. The mimosa leaves were starting their nightly folding and I wondered just what triggered this action. How did the tree know when to start..and how did it know when to wake up again without an alarm clock? After coming inside, I did a bit of research and got more confused than ever. It seems that this Circadian Rhythm thing causes changes to take place on a twenty-four hour cycle. Well, what if one day my Mimosa tree decides to sleep in and not unfold its leaves..would that throw off its whole "rhythm"? Would my tree then be out of cycle enough that it would not know to get up the next morning? And if I kept a Mimosa in a dark room for twenty-four hours, would it be so confused that its days and nights would be messed up making it sleep all day? Oh, the questions one encounters when walking in the garden! I knew that my Prayer Plant folds its leaves at night (hence the name..it appears to be saying its nightly prayers), but again, I had no clue why. Perhaps it is just a very pious plant, I do not know..or maybe its mother plant taught it well..or maybe it is Circadian Rhythm..who knows? I guess this is one that I will leave to the "experts"..my trees and plants just use commonsense and go to bed when it is dark!

While we are on the subject of things with rhythms, the cicadas are out in full force on the Bayou. Every night the trees are buzzing with their serenading and it really does not quieten down during the day. (No Circadian Rhythm with Cicadas! Ha..say that one aloud a few times!) Supposedly, we have a type of cicada called the Hieroglyphic Cicada here in the South. You could have fooled me on that one as we always called them "locusts" not to be confused with locusts that are basically grasshoppers. They are also called "jar flies" by my neighbor's children because they catch them and keep them in jars. Now, these are not to be confused with fireflies either just because they were caught and put in jars..they were not "jar flies" they were know as "lightning bugs". This is all quite simple when you look at it this way..cicadas are locusts and jar flies..locusts are grasshoppers.. and fire flies are lightning bugs not jar flies! (I am glad I could clarify that for you!)