Life Movements in Plants, Volume IBose, Jagadis Chandra
Science
Life Movements in Plants, Volume I
Bose, Jagadis Chandra
Growth (Plants); Plants -- Irritability and movements
Turning next to the element of variation of temperature we are at
once struck by the fact that the curve of movement of the tree is
practically a replica of the thermographic curve (Fig. 3). The _fall_
of temperature is seen to induce a _rise_ in the tree and _vice versâ_.
There is a lag in the turning points of the two curves; thus while
temperature began to rise at 6 A.M., the tree did not begin to fall
till 7 A.M. There is in this case a lag of an hour; but the _latent_
period may, sometimes, be as long as three hours. The delay is due
to two reasons; it must take some time for the thick trunk of the
tree to attain the temperature of the surrounding, and secondly, the
physiological inertia will delay the reaction. As a result of other
investigations, I find that the induced effect always lags behind the
inducing cause. It is interesting in this connection to draw attention
to the parallel phenomenon, which is described below, of lag in the
variation of sensibility of _Mimosa_ in response to variation of
temperature. In this case the lag was found to be about three hours.
Returning to the Palm, the tree continues to fall in the forenoon with
rising temperature. At about 2-30 P.M. the temperature was at its
maximum after which it began to decline; the movement of the tree was
not reversed into erection till after 3-15 P.M., the lag being now 45
minutes nearly.
I may state here that the movement of the tree is not primarily
affected by the periodicity of day and night, but by variation of
temperature. In spring and in early summer the rise of temperature
during the early part of the day and the fall of the temperature
from afternoon to next morning, are regular and continuous; the
corresponding movements of the tree are also regular. But at other
seasons, owing to the sudden change of direction of the wind, the
fluctuations of temperature are irregular. Thus at night there may
be a sudden rise, and in the earlier part of the day sudden fall of
temperature. And the record of movement of the tree is found to follow
these fluctuations with astonishing fidelity, the rise of temperature
being followed by a fall of the tree and _vice versâ_. That the
movement is determined by the temperature variation is exhibited in a
striking manner in Fig. 4, where, between 8 and 9 A.M., a common twitch
will be noticed in the two curves.
While trying to obtain some clue to the mysterious movement of
the tree, my attention was strongly attracted by certain striking
similarities which the record of the movement of the tree showed to the
curve of the diurnal variation of moto-excitability, of the pulvinus
of _Mimosa pudica_, an account of which will be found in a subsequent
Paper of the series.[A]
[A] _See_ also Bose--Diurnal Variation of Moto-Excitability in
_Mimosa_--Annals of Botany, Vol. XXVII, No. CVIII, October, 1918.
PERIODIC MOVEMENT OF TREES AND DIURNAL VARIATION OF MOTO-EXCITABILITY
IN _MIMOSA PUDICA_.
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