Botany; Geotropism; Plants -- Irritability and movements
Fig. 122. Ampelopsis tricuspidata: hyponastic movement of hooked tip of
leading shoot, traced from 8.10 A.M. July 13th to 8 A.M. 15th. Apex of
shoot 5½ inches from the vertical glass. Plant illuminated through a
skylight. Temp. 17½°–19° C. Diagram reduced to one-third of original
scale.
Fig. 123. Smithia Pfundii: hyponastic movement of the curved summit of
a stem, whilst straightening itself, traced from 9 A.M. July 10th to 3
P.M. 13th. Apex 9½ inches from the vertical glass. Diagram reduced to
one-fifth of original scale. Plant illuminated through skylight; temp.
17½°–19° C.
In order to ascertain whether the shoots of A. tricuspidata in
straightening themselves under the combined action of hyponasty and
apogeotropism moved in a simple straight course, or whether they
circumnutated, glass filaments were fixed to the crowns of four hooked
tips standing in their natural position; and the movements of the
filaments were traced on a vertical glass. All four tracings resembled
each other in a general manner; but we will give only one (see Fig.
122, p. 273). The filament rose at first, which shows that the hook was
straightening itself; it then zigzagged, moving a little to the left
between 9.25 A.M. and 9 P.M. From this latter hour on the 13th to 10.50
A.M. on the following morning (14th) the hook continued to straighten
itself, and then zigzagged a short distance to the right. But from 1
P.M. to 10.40 P.M. on the 14th the movement
was reversed and the shoot became more hooked. During the night, after
10.40 P.M. to 8.15 A.M. on the 15th, the hook again opened or
straightened itself. By this time the glass filament had become so
highly inclined that its movements could no longer be traced with
accuracy; and by 1.30 P.M. on this same day, the crown of the former
arch or hook had become perfectly straight and vertical. There can
therefore be no doubt that the straightening of the hooked shoot of
this plant is effected by the circumnutation of the arched portion—that
is, by growth alternating between the upper and lower surface, but
preponderant on the lower surface, with some little lateral movement.
We were enabled to trace the movement of another straightening shoot
for a longer period (owing to its slower growth and to its having been
placed further from the vertical glass), namely, from the early morning
on July 13th to late in the evening of the 16th. During the whole
daytime of the 14th, the hook straightened itself very little, but
zigzagged and plainly circumnutated about nearly the same spot. By the
16th it had become nearly straight, and the tracing was no longer
accurate, yet it was manifest that there was still a considerable
amount of movement both up and down and laterally; for the crown whilst
continuing to straighten itself occasionally became for a short time
more curved, causing the filament to descend twice during the day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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