The Movements and Habits of Climbing PlantsDarwin, Charles
Science
The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants
Darwin, Charles
Climbing plants; Geotropism; Plants; Plants -- Irritability and movements
The several terminal branches of the petiole bearing the much reduced
leaflets (_a_, _b_, _c_, _d_) are highly sensitive, for a loop of thread
weighing only the one-sixteenth of a grain (4.05 mg.) caused them to
become greatly curved in under 4 hrs. When the loop was removed, the
petioles straightened themselves in about the same time. The petiole
(_e_) was rather less sensitive; and in another specimen, in which the
corresponding petiole bore rather larger leaflets, a loop of thread
weighing one-eighth of a grain did not cause curvature until 18 hrs. had
elapsed. Loops of thread weighing one-fourth of a grain, left suspended
on the lower petioles (_f_ to _l_) during several days, produced no
effect. Yet the three petioles _f_, _g_, and _h_ were not quite
insensible, for when left in contact with a stick for a day or two they
slowly curled round it. Thus the sensibility of the petiole gradually
diminishes from the tendril-like extremity to the base. The internodes
of the stem are not at all sensitive, which makes Mohl’s statement that
they are sometimes converted into tendrils the more surprising, not to
say improbable.
The whole leaf, whilst young and sensitive, stands almost vertically
upwards, as we have seen to be the case with many tendrils. It is in
continual movement, and one that I observed swept at an average rate of
about 2 hrs. for each revolution, large, though irregular, ellipses,
which were sometimes narrow, sometimes broad, with their longer axes
directed to different points of the compass. The young internodes,
likewise revolved irregularly in ellipses or spires; so that by these
combined movements a considerable space was swept for a support. If the
terminal and attenuated portion of a petiole fails to seize any object,
it ultimately bends downwards and inwards, and soon loses all
irritability and power of movement. This bending down differs much in
nature from that which occurs with the extremities of the young leaves in
many species of _Clematis_; for these, when thus bent downwards or
hooked, first acquire their full degree of sensitiveness.
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