Read Ebook: The Power of Movement in Plants by Darwin Charles Darwin Francis Sir

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 1571 lines and 193602 words, and 32 pages

THE MOVEMENTS OF PLANTS.

INTRODUCTION.

The chief object of the present work is to describe and connect together several large classes of movement, common to almost all plants. The most widely prevalent movement is essentially of the same nature as that of the stem of a climbing plant, which bends successively to all points of the compass, so that the tip revolves. This movement has been called by Sachs "revolving nutation;" but we have found it much more convenient to use the terms circumnutation and circumnutate. As we shall have to say much about this movement, it will be useful here briefly to describe its nature. If we observe a circumnutating stem, which happens at the time to be bent, we will say towards the north, it will be found gradually to bend more and more easterly, until it faces the east; and so onwards to the south, then to the west, and back again to the north. If the movement had been quite regular, the apex would have described a circle, or rather, as the stem is always growing upwards, a circular spiral. But it generally describes irregular elliptical or oval figures; for the apex, after pointing in any one direction, commonly moves back to the opposite side, not, however, returning along the same line. Afterwards other irregular ellipses or ovals are successively described, with their longer axes directed to different points of the compass. Whilst describing such figures, the apex often travels in a zigzag line, or makes small subordinate loops or triangles. In the case of leaves the ellipses are generally narrow.

Until recently the cause of all such bending movements was believed to be due to the increased growth of the side which becomes for a time convex; that this side does temporarily grow more quickly than the concave side has been well established; but De Vries has lately shown that such increased growth follows a previously increased state of turgescence on the convex side. In the case of parts provided with a so-called joint, cushion or pulvinus, which consists of an aggregate of small cells that have ceased to increase in size from a very early age, we meet with similar movements; and here, as Pfeffer has shown and as we shall see in the course of this work, the increased turgescence of the cells on opposite sides is not followed by increased growth. Wiesner denies in certain cases the accuracy of De Vries' conclusion about turgescence, and maintains that the increased extensibility of the cell-walls is the more important element. That such extensibility must accompany increased turgescence in order that the part may bend is manifest, and this has been insisted on by several botanists; but in the case of unicellular plants it can hardly fail to be the more important element. On the whole we may at present conclude that increased growth, first on one side and then on another, is a secondary effect, and that the increased turgescence of the cells, together with the extensibility of their walls, is the primary cause of the movement of circumnutation.

Sachs first showed the intimate connection between turgescence and growth. For De Vries' interesting essay, 'Wachsthumskr?mmungen mehrzelliger Organe,' see 'Bot. Zeitung,' Dec. 19, 1879, p. 830.

'Die Periodischen Bewegungen der Blattorgane,' 1875.

'Untersuchungen ?ber den Heliotropismus,' Sitzb. der K. Akad. der Wissenschaft. , Jan. 1880.

See Mr. Vines' excellent discussion on this intricate subject. Hofmeister's observations on the curious movements of Spirogyra, a plant consisting of a single row of cells, are valuable in relation to this subject.

In the course of the present volume it will be shown that apparently every growing part of every plant is continually circumnutating, though often on a small scale. Even the stems of seedlings before they have broken through the ground, as well as their buried radicles, circumnutate, as far as the pressure of the surrounding earth permits. In this universally present movement we have the basis or groundwork for the acquirement, according to the requirements of the plant, of the most diversified movements. Thus, the great sweeps made by the stems of twining plants, and by the tendrils of other climbers, result from a mere increase in the amplitude of the ordinary movement of circumnutation. The position which young leaves and other organs ultimately assume is acquired by the circumnutating movement being increased in some one direction. the leaves of various plants are said to sleep at night, and it will be seen that their blades then assume a vertical position through modified circumnutation, in order to protect their upper surfaces from being chilled through radiation. The movements of various organs to the light, which are so general throughout the vegetable kingdom, and occasionally from the light, or transversely with respect to it, are all modified forms of circumnutation; as again are the equally prevalent movements of stems, etc., towards the zenith, and of roots towards the centre of the earth. In accordance with these conclusions, a considerable difficulty in the way of evolution is in part removed, for it might have been asked, how did all these diversified movements for the most different purposes first arise? As the case stands, we know that there is always movement in progress, and its amplitude, or direction, or both, have only to be modified for the good of the plant in relation with internal or external stimuli.

Besides describing the several modified forms of circumnutation, some other subjects will be discussed. The two which have interested us most are, firstly, the fact that with some seedling plants the uppermost part alone is sensitive to light, and transmits an influence to the lower part, causing it to bend. If therefore the upper part be wholly protected from light, the lower part may be exposed for hours to it, and yet does not become in the least bent, although this would have occurred quickly if the upper part had been excited by light. Secondly, with the radicles of seedlings, the tip is sensitive to various stimuli, especially to very slight pressure, and when thus excited, transmits an influence to the upper part, causing it to bend from the pressed side. On the other hand, if the tip is subjected to the vapour of water proceeding from one side, the upper part of the radicle bends towards this side. Again it is the tip, as stated by Ciesielski, though denied by others, which is sensitive to the attraction of gravity, and by transmission causes the adjoining parts of the radicle to bend towards the centre of the earth. These several cases of the effects of contact, other irritants, vapour, light, and the attraction of gravity being transmitted from the excited part for some little distance along the organ in question, have an important bearing on the theory of all such movements.

Terminology.--A brief explanation of some terms which will be used, must here be given. With seedlings, the stem which supports the cotyledons has been called by many botanists the hypocotyledonous stem, but for brevity sake we will speak of it merely as the hypocotyl: the stem immediately above the cotyledons will be called the epicotyl or plumule. The radicle can be distinguished from the hypocotyl only by the presence of root-hairs and the nature of its covering. The meaning of the word circumnutation has already been explained. Authors speak of positive and negative heliotropism,--that is, the bending of an organ to or from the light; but it is much more convenient to confine the word heliotropism to bending towards the light, and to designate as apheliotropism bending from the light. There is another reason for this change, for writers, as we have observed, occasionally drop the adjectives positive and negative, and thus introduce confusion into their discussions. Diaheliotropism may express a position more or less transverse to the light and induced by it. In like manner positive geotropism, or bending towards the centre of the earth, will be called by us geotropism; apogeotropism will mean bending in opposition to gravity or from the centre of the earth; and diageotropism, a position more or less transverse to the radius of the earth. The words heliotropism and geotropism properly mean the act of moving in relation to the light or the earth; but in the same manner as gravitation, though defined as "the act of tending to the centre," is often used to express the cause of a body falling, so it will be found convenient occasionally to employ heliotropism and geotropism, etc., as the cause of the movements in question.

The highly useful terms of Heliotropism and Geotropism were first used by Dr. A. B. Frank: see his remarkable 'Beitr?ge zur Pflanzenphysiologie,' 1868.

The term epinasty is now often used in Germany, and implies that the upper surface of an organ grows more quickly than the lower surface, and thus causes it to bend downwards. Hyponasty is the reverse, and implies increased growth along the lower surface, causing the part to bend upwards.

These terms are used in the sense given them by De Vries, 'W?rzburg Arbeiten,' Heft ii 1872, p. 252.

Methods of Observation.--The movements, sometimes very small and sometimes considerable in extent, of the various organs observed by us, were traced in the manner which after many trials we found to be best, and which must be described. Plants growing in pots were protected wholly from the light, or had light admitted from above, or on one side as the case might require, and were covered above by a large horizontal sheet of glass, and with another vertical sheet on one side. A glass filament, not thicker than a horsehair, and from a quarter to three-quarters of an inch in length, was affixed to the part to be observed by means of shellac dissolved in alcohol. The solution was allowed to evaporate, until it became so thick that it set hard in two or three seconds, and it never injured the tissues, even the tips of tender radicles, to which it was applied. To the end of the glass filament an excessively minute bead of black sealing-wax was cemented, below or behind which a bit of card with a black dot was fixed to a stick driven into the ground. The weight of the filament was so slight that even small leaves were not perceptibly pressed down. another method of observation, when much magnification of the movement was not required, will presently be described. The bead and the dot on the card were viewed through the horizontal or vertical glass-plate , and when one exactly covered the other, a dot was made on the glass-plate with a sharply pointed stick dipped in thick Indian-ink. Other dots were made at short intervals of time and these were afterwards joined by straight lines. The figures thus traced were therefore angular; but if dots had been made every 1 or 2 minutes, the lines would have been more curvilinear, as occurred when radicles were allowed to trace their own courses on smoked glass-plates. To make the dots accurately was the sole difficulty, and required some practice. Nor could this be done quite accurately, when the movement was much magnified, such as 30 times and upwards; yet even in this case the general course may be trusted. To test the accuracy of the above method of observation, a filament was fixed to an inanimate object which was made to slide along a straight edge and dots were repeatedly made on a glass-plate; when these were joined, the result ought to have been a perfectly straight line, and the line was very nearly straight. It may be added that when the dot on the card was placed half-an-inch below or behind the bead of sealing-wax, and when the glass-plate stood at a distance of 7 inches in front , then the tracing represented the movement of the bead magnified 15 times.

Whenever a great increase of the movement was not required, another, and in some respects better, method of observation was followed. This consisted in fixing two minute triangles of thin paper, about 1/20 inch in height, to the two ends of the attached glass filament; and when their tips were brought into a line so that they covered one another, dots were made as before on the glass-plate. If we suppose the glass-plate to stand at a distance of seven inches from the end of the shoot bearing the filament, the dots when joined, will give nearly the same figure as if a filament seven inches long, dipped in ink, had been fixed to the moving shoot, and had inscribed its own course on the plate. The movement is thus considerably magnified; for instance, if a shoot one inch in length were bending, and the glass-plate stood at the distance of seven inches, the movement would be magnified eight times. It would, however, have been very difficult to have ascertained in each case how great a length of the shoot was bending; and this is indispensable for ascertaining the degree to which the movement is magnified.

After dots had been made on the glass-plates by either of the above methods, they were copied on tracing paper and joined by ruled lines, with arrows showing the direction of the movement. The nocturnal courses are represented by straight broken lines. the first dot is always made larger than the others, so as to catch the eye, as may be seen in the diagrams. The figures on the glass-plates were often drawn on too large a scale to be reproduced on the pages of this volume, and the proportion in which they have been reduced is always given. Whenever it could be approximately told how much the movement had been magnified, this is stated. We have perhaps introduced a superfluous number of diagrams; but they take up less space than a full description of the movements. Almost all the sketches of plants asleep, etc., were carefully drawn for us by Mr. George Darwin.

We are much indebted to Mr. Cooper for the care with which he has reduced and engraved our diagrams.

As shoots, leaves, etc., in circumnutating bend more and more, first in one direction and then in another, they were necessarily viewed at different times more or less obliquely; and as the dots were made on a flat surface, the apparent amount of movement is exaggerated according to the degree of obliquity of the point of view. It would, therefore, have been a much better plan to have used hemispherical glasses, if we had possessed them of all sizes, and if the bending part of the shoot had been distinctly hinged and could have been placed so as to have formed one of the radii of the sphere. But even in this case it would have been necessary afterwards to have projected the figures on paper; so that complete accuracy could not have been attained. From the distortion of our figures, owing to the above causes, they are of no use to any one who wishes to know the exact amount of movement, or the exact course pursued; but they serve excellently for ascertaining whether or not the part moved at all, as well as the general character of the movement.

In the following chapters, the movements of a considerable number of plants are described; and the species have been arranged according to the system adopted by Hooker in Le Maout and Decaisne's 'Descriptive Botany.' No one who is not investigating the present subject need read all the details, which, however, we have thought it advisable to give. To save the reader trouble, the conclusions and most of the more important parts have been printed in larger type than the other parts. He may, if he thinks fit, read the last chapter first, as it includes a summary of the whole volume; and he will thus see what points interest him, and on which he requires the full evidence.

Finally, we must have the pleasure of returning our sincere thanks to Sir Joseph Hooker and to Mr. W. Thiselton Dyer for their great kindness, in not only sending us plants from Kew, but in procuring others from several sources when they were required for our observations; also, for naming many species, and giving us information on various points.

Brassica oleracea, circumnutation of the radicle, of the arched hypocotyl whilst still buried beneath the ground, whilst rising above the ground and straightening itself, and when erect--Circumnutation of the cotyledons--Rate of movement--Analogous observations on various organs in species of Githago, Gossypium, Oxalis, Tropaeolum, Citrus, AEsculus, of several Leguminous and Cucurbitaceous genera, Opuntia, Helianthus, Primula, Cyclamen, Stapelia, Cerinthe, Nolana, Solanum, Beta, Ricinus, Quercus, Corylus, Pinus, Cycas, Canna, Allium, Asparagus, Phalaris, Zea, Avena, Nephrodium, and Selaginella.

The following chapter is devoted to the circumnutating movements of the radicles, hypocotyls, and cotyledons of seedling plants; and, when the cotyledons do not rise above the ground, to the movements of the epicotyl. But in a future chapter we shall have to recur to the movements of certain cotyledons which sleep at night.

Brassica oleracea '.--Fuller details will be given with respect to the movements in this case than in any other, as space and time will thus ultimately be saved.

Radicle.--A seed with the radicle projecting .05 inch was fastened with shellac to a little plate of zinc, so that the radicle stood up vertically; and a fine glass filament was then fixed near its base, that is, close to the seed-coats. The seed was surrounded by little bits of wet sponge, and the movement of the bead at the end of the filament was traced during sixty hours. In this time the radicle increased in length from .05 to .11 inch. Had the filament been attached at first close to the apex of the radicle, and if it could have remained there all the time, the movement exhibited would have been much greater, for at the close of our observations the tip, instead of standing vertically upwards, had become bowed downwards through geotropism, so as almost to touch the zinc plate. As far as we could roughly ascertain by measurements made with compasses on other seeds, the tip alone, for a length of only 2/100 to 3/100 of an inch, is acted on by geotropism. But the tracing shows that the basal part of the radicle continued to circumnutate irregularly during the whole time. The actual extreme amount of movement of the bead at the end of the filament was nearly .05 inch, but to what extent the movement of the radicle was magnified by the filament, which was nearly 3/4 inch in length, it was impossible to estimate.

Fig. 1. Brassica oleracea: circumnutation of radicle, traced on horizontal glass, from 9 A.M. Jan. 31st to 9 P.M. Feb. 2nd. Movement of bead at end of filament magnified about 40 times.

Another seed was treated and observed in the same manner, but the radicle in this case protruded .1 inch, and was not fastened so as to project quite vertically upwards. The filament was affixed close to its base. The tracing shows the movement from 9 A.M. Jan. 31st to 7 A.M. Feb. 2nd; but it continued to move during the whole of the 2nd in the same general direction, and in a similar zigzag manner. From the radicle not being quite perpendicular when the filament was affixed geotropism came into play at once; but the irregular zigzag course shows that there was growth , sometimes on one and sometimes on another side. Occasionally the bead remained stationary for about an hour, and then probably growth occurred on the side opposite to that which caused the geotropic curvature. In the case previously described the basal part of the very short radicle from being turned vertically upwards, was at first very little affected by geotropism. Filaments were affixed in two other instances to rather longer radicles protruding obliquely from seeds which had been turned upside down; and in these cases the lines traced on the horizontal glasses were only slightly zigzag, and the movement was always in the same general direction, through the action of geotropism. All these observations are liable to several causes of error, but we believe, from what will hereafter be shown with respect to the movements of the radicles of other plants, that they may be largely trusted.

Fig. 2. Brassica oleracea: circumnutating and geotropic movement of radicle, traced on horizontal glass during 46 hours.

Even whilst the arched or doubled hypocotyl is still beneath the ground, it circumnutates as much as the pressure of the surrounding soil will permit; but this was difficult to observe, because as soon as the arch is freed from lateral pressure the two legs begin to separate, even at a very early age, before the arch would naturally have reached the surface. Seeds were allowed to germinate on the surface of damp earth, and after they had fixed themselves by their radicles, and after the, as yet, only slightly arched hypocotyl had become nearly vertical, a glass filament was affixed on two occasions near to the base of the basal leg , and its movements were traced in darkness on a horizontal glass. The result was that long lines were formed running in nearly the plane of the vertical arch, due to the early separation of the two legs now freed from pressure; but as the lines were zigzag, showing lateral movement, the arch must have been circumnutating, whilst it was straightening itself by growth along its inner or concave surface.

Fig. 3. Brassica oleracea: circumnutating movement of buried and arched hypocotyl , traced on horizontal glass during 45 hours. Movement of bead of filament magnified about 25 times, and here reduced to one-half of original scale.

Fig. 4. Brassica oleracea: circumnutating movement of buried and arched hypocotyl, with the two legs of the arch tied together, traced on horizontal glass during 33 1/2 hours. Movement of the bead of filament magnified about 26 times, and here reduced to one-half original scale.

Before the above observations were made, some arched hypocotyls buried at the depth of a quarter of an inch were uncovered; and in order to prevent the two legs of the arch from beginning to separate at once, they were tied together with fine silk. This was done partly because we wished to ascertain how long the hypocotyl, in its arched condition, would continue to move, and whether the movement when not masked and disturbed by the straightening process, indicated circumnutation. Firstly a filament was fixed to the basal leg of an arched hypocotyl close above the summit of the radicle. The cotyledons were still partially enclosed within the seed-coats. The movement was traced from 9.20 A.M. on Dec. 23rd to 6.45 A.M. on Dec. 25th. No doubt the natural movement was much disturbed by the two legs having been tied together; but we see that it was distinctly zigzag, first in one direction and then in an almost opposite one. After 3 P.M. on the 24th the arched hypocotyl sometimes remained stationary for a considerable time, and when moving, moved far slower than before. Therefore, on the morning of the 25th, the glass filament was removed from the base of the basal leg, and was fixed horizontally on the summit of the arch, which, from the legs having been tied, had grown broad and almost flat. The movement was now traced during 23 hours , and we see that the course was still zigzag, which indicates a tendency to circumnutation. The base of the basal leg by this time had almost completely ceased to move.

Fig. 5. Brassica oleracea: circumnutating movement of the crown of a buried and arched hypocotyl, with the two legs tied together, traced on a horizontal glass during 23 hours. Movement of the bead of the filament magnified about 58 times, and here reduced to one-half original scale.

As soon as the cotyledons have been naturally dragged from beneath the ground, and the hypocotyl has straightened itself by growth along the inner or concave surface, there is nothing to interfere with the free movements of the parts; and the circumnutation now becomes much more regular and clearly displayed, as shown in the following cases:--A seedling was placed in front and near a north-east window with a line joining the two cotyledons parallel to the window. It was thus left the whole day so as to accommodate itself to the light. On the following morning a filament was fixed to the midrib of the larger and taller cotyledon , and a mark being placed close behind, the movement of the whole plant, that is, of the hypocotyl and cotyledon, was traced greatly magnified on a vertical glass. At first the plant bent so much towards the light that it was useless to attempt to trace the movement; but at 10 A.M. heliotropism almost wholly ceased and the first dot was made on the glass. The last was made at 8.45 P.M.; seventeen dots being altogether made in this interval of 10 h. 45 m. . It should be noticed that when I looked shortly after 4 P.M. the bead was pointing off the glass, but it came on again at 5.30 P.M., and the course during this interval of 1 h. 30 m. has been filled up by imagination, but cannot be far from correct. The bead moved seven times from side to side, and thus described 3 1/2 ellipses in 10 3/4 h.; each being completed on an average in 3 h. 4 m.

Fig. 6. Brassica oleracea: conjoint circumnutation of the hypocotyl and cotyledons during 10 hours 45 minutes. Figure here reduced to one-half original scale.

On the previous day another seedling had been observed under similar conditions, excepting that the plant was so placed that a line joining the two cotyledons pointed towards the window; and the filament was attached to the smaller cotyledon on the side furthest from the window. Moreover the plant was now for the first time placed in this position. The cotyledons bowed themselves greatly towards the light from 8 to 10.50 A.M., when the first dot was made . During the next 12 hours the bead swept obliquely up and down 8 times and described 4 figures representing ellipses; so that it travelled at nearly the same rate as in the previous case. during the night it moved upwards, owing to the sleep-movement of the cotyledons, and continued to move in the same direction till 9 A.M. on the following morning; but this latter movement would not have occurred with seedlings under their natural conditions fully exposed to the light.

Fig. 7. Brassica oleracea: conjoint circumnutation of the hypocotyl and cotyledons, from 10.50 A.M. to 8 A.M. on the following morning. Tracing made on a vertical glass.

Fig. 8. Brassica oleracea: conjoint circumnutation of the hypocotyl and cotyledons during 8 hours. Figure here reduced to one-third of the original scale, as traced on a vertical glass.

As the filaments were fixed in the three last cases to one of the cotyledons, and as the hypocotyl was left free, the tracings show the movement of both organs conjoined; and we now wished to ascertain whether both circumnutated. Filaments were therefore fixed horizontally to two hypocotyls close beneath the petioles of their cotyledons. These seedlings had stood for two days in the same position before a north-east window. In the morning, up to about 11 A.M., they moved in zigzag lines towards the light; and at night they again became almost upright through apogeotropism. After about 11 A.M. they moved a little back from the light, often crossing and recrossing their former path in zigzag lines. the sky on this day varied much in brightness, and these observations merely proved that the hypocotyls were continually moving in a manner resembling circumnutation. On a previous day which was uniformly cloudy, a hypocotyl was firmly secured to a little stick, and a filament was fixed to the larger of the two cotyledons, and its movement was traced on a vertical glass. It fell greatly from 8.52 A.M., when the first dot was made, till 10.55 A.M.; it then rose greatly until 12.17 P.M. Afterwards it fell a little and made a loop, but by 2.22 P.M. it had risen a little and continued rising till 9.23 P.M., when it made another loop, and at 10.30 P.M. was again rising. These observations show that the cotyledons move vertically up and down all day long, and as there was some slight lateral movement, they circumnutated.

Fig. 9. Brassica oleracea: circumnutation of hypocotyl, in darkness, traced on a horizontal glass, by means of a filament with a bead fixed across its summit, between 9.15 A.M. and 8.30 A.M. on the following morning. Figure here reduced to one-half of original scale.

The cabbage was one of the first plants, the seedlings of which were observed by us, and we did not then know how far the circumnutation of the different parts was affected by light. Young seedlings were therefore kept in complete darkness except for a minute or two during each observation, when they were illuminated by a small wax taper held almost vertically above them. During the first day the hypocotyl of one changed its course 13 times ; and it deserves notice that the longer axes of the figures described often cross one another at right or nearly right angles. Another seedling was observed in the same manner, but it was much older, for it had formed a true leaf a quarter of an inch in length, and the hypocotyl was 1 3/8 inch in height. The figure traced was a very complex one, though the movement was not so great in extent as in the last case.

The hypocotyl of another seedling of the same age was secured to a little stick, and a filament having been fixed to the midrib of one of the cotyledons, the movement of the bead was traced during 14 h. 15 m. in darkness. It should be noted that the chief movement of the cotyledons, namely, up and down, would be shown on a horizontal glass-plate only by the lines in the direction of the midrib being a little lengthened or shortened; whereas any lateral movement would be well exhibited. The present tracing shows that the cotyledon did thus move laterally 12 times in the 14 h. 15 m. of observation. Therefore the cotyledons certainly circumnutated, though the chief movement was up and down in a vertical plane.

Fig. 10. Brassica oleracea: circumnutation of a cotyledon, the hypocotyl having been secured to a stick, traced on a horizontal glass, in darkness, from 8.15 A.M. to 10.30 P.M. Movement of the bead of the filament magnified 13 times.

Rate of Movement.--The movements of the hypocotyls and cotyledons of seedling cabbages of different ages have now been sufficiently illustrated. With respect to the rate, seedlings were placed under the microscope with the stage removed, and with a micrometer eye-piece so adjusted that each division equalled 1/500 inch; the plants were illuminated by light passing through a solution of bichromate of potassium so as to eliminate heliotropism. Under these circumstances it was interesting to observe how rapidly the circumnutating apex of a cotyledon passed across the divisions of the micrometer. Whilst travelling in any direction the apex generally oscillated backwards and forwards to the extent of 1/500 and sometimes of nearly 1/250 of an inch. These oscillations were quite different from the trembling caused by any disturbance in the same room or by the shutting of a distant door. The first seedling observed was nearly two inches in height and had been etiolated by having been grown in darkness. The tip of the cotyledon passed across 10 divisions of the micrometer, that is, 1/50 of an inch, in 6 m. 40 s. Short glass filaments were then fixed vertically to the hypocotyls of several seedlings so as to project a little above the cotyledons, thus exaggerating the rate of movement; but only a few of the observations thus made are worth giving. The most remarkable fact was the oscillatory movement above described, and the difference of rate at which the point crossed the divisions of the micrometer, after short intervals of time. For instance, a tall not-etiolated seedling had been kept for 14 h. in darkness; it was exposed before a north-east window for only two or three minutes whilst a glass filament was fixed vertically to the hypocotyl; it was then again placed in darkness for half an hour and afterwards observed by light passing through bichromate of potassium. The point, oscillating as usual, crossed five divisions of the micrometer in 1 m. 30 s. The seedling was then left in darkness for an hour, and now it required 3 m. 6 s. to cross one division, that is, 15 m. 30 s. to have crossed five divisions. Another seedling, after being occasionally observed in the back part of a northern room with a very dull light, and left in complete darkness for intervals of half an hour, crossed five divisions in 5 m. in the direction of the window, so that we concluded that the movement was heliotropic. But this was probably not the case, for it was placed close to a north-east window and left there for 25 m., after which time, instead of moving still more quickly towards the light, as might have been expected, it travelled only at the rate of 12 m. 30 s. for five divisions. It was then again left in complete darkness for 1 h., and the point now travelled in the same direction as before, but at the rate of 3 m. 18 s. for five divisions.

We shall have to recur to the cotyledons of the cabbage in a future chapter, when we treat of their sleep-movements. The circumnutation, also, of the leaves of fully-developed plants will hereafter be described.

Fig. 11. Githago segetum: circumnutation of hypocotyl, traced on a horizontal glass, by means of a filament fixed transversely across its summit, from 8.15 A.M. to 12.15 P.M. on the following day. Movement of bead of filament magnified about 13 times, here reduced to one-half the original scale.

Githago segetum .--A young seedling was dimly illuminated from above, and the circumnutation of the hypocotyl was observed during 28 h., as shown in Fig. 11. It moved in all directions; the lines from right and to left in the figure being parallel to the blades of the cotyledons. The actual distance travelled from side to side by the summit of the hypocotyl was about .2 of an inch; but it was impossible to be accurate on this head, as the more obliquely the plant was viewed, after it had moved for some time, the more the distances were exaggerated.

We endeavoured to observe the circumnutation of the cotyledons, but as they close together unless kept exposed to a moderately bright light, and as the hypocotyl is extremely heliotropic, the necessary arrangements were too troublesome. We shall recur to the nocturnal or sleep-movements of the cotyledons in a future chapter.

Fig. 12. Gossypium: circumnutation of hypocotyl, traced on a horizontal glass, from 10.30 A.M. to 9.30 A.M. on following morning, by means of a filament fixed across its summit. Movement of bead of filament magnified about twice; seedling illuminated from above.

Gossypium .--The circumnutation of a hypocotyl was observed in the hot-house, but the movement was so much exaggerated that the bead twice passed for a time out of view. It was, however, manifest that two somewhat irregular ellipses were nearly completed in 9 h. Another seedling, 1 1/2 in. in height, was then observed during 23 h.; but the observations were not made at sufficiently short intervals, as shown by the few dots in Fig. 12, and the tracing was not now sufficiently enlarged. Nevertheless there could be no doubt about the circumnutation of the hypocotyl, which described in 12 h. a figure representing three irregular ellipses of unequal sizes.

The cotyledons are in constant movement up and down during the whole day, and as they offer the unusual case of moving downwards late in the evening and in the early part of the night, many observations were made on them. A filament was fixed along the middle of one, and its movement traced on a vertical glass; but the tracing is not given, as the hypocotyl was not secured, so that it was impossible to distinguish clearly between its movement and that of the cotyledon. The cotyledons rose from 10.30 A.M. to about 3 P.M.; they then sank till 10 P.M., rising, however, greatly in the latter part of the night. The angles above the horizon at which the cotyledons of another seedling stood at different hours is recorded in the following short table:--

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet