Botany; Geotropism; Plants -- Irritability and movements
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 (see Fig. 9); 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.
(see Fig. 10) 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 (that is,
up and down, as Fig. 10 here stands) 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 (that
is, from side to side in the tracing) 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.
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