Botany; Geotropism; Plants -- Irritability and movements
(13.) Whole tip blackened, but more on one side than the other; on the
fourth day slightly, and on the sixth day greatly deflected from the
more blackened side; the deflection on the ninth day amounted to 90°
from the perpendicular.
(14.) Whole tip blackened in the same manner as in the last case: on
the second day decided deflection from the more blackened side, which
increased on the seventh day to nearly 90°; on the following day the
radicle appeared unhealthy.
(15.) Here we had the anomalous case of a radicle bending
slightly _towards_ the cauterised side on the first day, and continuing
to do so for the next three days, when the deflection amounted to about
90° from the perpendicular. The cause appeared to lie in the
tendril-like sensitiveness of the upper part of the radicle, against
which the point of a large triangular flap of the seed-coats pressed
with considerable force; and this irritation apparently conquered that
from the cauterised apex.
These several cases show beyond doubt that the irritation of one side
of the apex, excites the upper part of the radicle to bend slowly
towards the opposite side. This fact was well exhibited in one lot of
five seeds pinned to the cork-lid of a jar; for when after 6 days the
lid was turned upside down and viewed from directly above, the little
black marks made by the caustic were now all distinctly visible on the
upper sides of the tips of the laterally bowed radicles. A thin slice
was shaved off with a razor from one side of the tips of 22 radicles,
in the manner described under the common bean; but this kind of
irritation did not prove very effective. Only 7 out of the 22 radicles
became moderately deflected in from 3 to 5 days from the sliced
surface, and several of the others grew irregularly. The evidence,
therefore, is far from conclusive.
Quercus robur: Sensitiveness of the apex of the Radicle.—The tips of
the radicles of the common oak are fully as sensitive to slight contact
as are those of any plant examined by us. They remained healthy in damp
air for 10 days, but grew slowly. Squares of the card-like paper were
fixed with shellac to the tips of 15 radicles, and ten of these became
conspicuously bowed from the perpendicular and from the squares; two
slightly, and three not at all. But two of the latter were not real
exceptions, as they were at first very short, and hardly grew
afterwards. Some of the more
remarkable cases are worth describing. The radicles were examined on
each successive morning, at nearly the same hour, that is, after
intervals of 24 h.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account