Detección automática de la apertura y el cierre de las flores de Mammillaria mathildae Kraehenb. & Krainz

We present a method for detecting flowers on image sequences captured with a fixed video camera. We determine the optical flow between pairs of images, which were captured with a separation of several minutes. The optical flow allows us to find small regions that could be interpreted as the motion of petals when the flower is opening or closing. Finally, we establish a criterion for updating regions of interest corresponding to opened flowers. Some experimental results are shown using Mammillaria mathildae, an endemic and threatened species from the semiarid zone in the state of Queretaro, Mexico.