green, a few being still unaffected. The little masses of protoplasm
within the cells were seen in movement. The cells of the pedicels were
unaltered. The experiment was repeated, and a fresh flower-stem was
left for 23 hrs. in the solution, and now a great effect was produced;
all the glands were much blackened, and the previously transparent
fluid in the cells of the pedicels, even down to their bases, contained
spherical masses of granular matter. By comparing many different hairs,
it was evident that the glands first absorb the carbonate, and that the
effect thus produced travels down the hairs from cell to cell. The
first change which could be observed is a cloudy appearance in the
fluid, due to the formation of very fine granules, which afterwards
aggregate into larger masses. Altogether, in the darkening of the
glands, and in the process of aggregation travelling down the cells of
the pedicels, there is the closest resemblance to what takes place when
a tentacle of Drosera is immersed in a weak solution of the same salt.
The glands, however, absorb very much more slowly than those of
Drosera. Besides the glandular hairs, there are star-shaped organs
which do not appear to secrete, and which were not in the least
affected by the above solutions.
Although in the case of uninjured flower-stems and leaves the carbonate
seems to be absorbed only by the glands, yet it enters a cut surface
much more quickly than a gland. Strips of the rind of a flower-stem
were torn off, and the cells of the pedicels were seen to contain only
colourless transparent fluid; those of the glands including as usual
some granular matter. These strips were then immersed in the same
solution as before (one part of the carbonate to 109 of water), and in
a few minutes granular matter appeared in the lowercells of all the
pedicels. The action invariably commenced (for I tried the experiment
repeatedly) in the lowest cells, and therefore close to the torn
surface, and then gradually travelled up the hairs until it reached the
glands, in a reversed direction to what occurs in uninjured specimens.
The glands then became discoloured, and the previously contained
granular matter was aggregated into larger masses. Two short bits of a
flower-stem were also left for 2 hrs. 40 m. in a weaker solution of one
part of the carbonate to 218 of water; and in both specimens the
pedicels of the hairs near the cut ends now contained much granular
matter; and the glands were completely discoloured.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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