Botany; Geotropism; Plants -- Irritability and movements
Phaseolus vulgaris (Tribe 8).—The leaflets likewise sink vertically
down at night. In the greenhouse the petiole of a young leaf rose 16°,
and that of an older leaf 10° at night. With plants growing out of
doors the leaflets apparently do not sleep until somewhat late in the
season, for on the nights of July 11th and 12th none of them were
asleep; whereas on the night of August 15th the same plants had most of
their leaflets vertically dependent and asleep. With Ph. caracalla and
Hernandesii, the primary unifoliate leaves and the leaflets of the
secondary trifoliate leaves sink vertically down at night. This holds
good with the secondary trifoliate leaves of Ph. Roxburghii, but it is
remarkable that the primary unifoliate leaves which are much elongated,
rise at night from about 20° to about 60° above the horizon. With older
seedlings, however, having the secondary leaves just developed, the
primary leaves stand in the middle of the day horizontally, or are
deflected a little beneath the horizon. In one such case the primary
leaves rose from 26° beneath the horizon at noon, to 20° above it at 10
P.M.; whilst at this same hour the leaflets of the secondary leaves
were vertically dependent. Here, then, we have the extraordinary case
of the primary and secondary leaves on the same plant moving at the
same time in opposite directions.
We have now seen that the leaflets in the six genera of Phaseoleae
observed by us (with the exception of the primary leaves of Phaseolus
Roxburghii) all sleep in the same manner, namely, by sinking vertically
down. The movements of the petioles were observed in only three of
these genera. They rose in Centrosema and Phaseolus, and sunk in
Amphicarpæa.
Sophora chrysophylla (Tribe 10).—The leaflets rise at night, and are at
the same time directed towards the apex of the leaf, as in Mimosa
pudica.
Caesalpinia, Hoematoxylon, Gleditschia, Poinciana.—The leaflets of two
species of Caesalpinia (Tribe 13) rose at night. With Haematoxylon
Campechianum (Tribe 13) the leaflets move forwards at night, so that
their midribs stand parallel to the petiole, and their now vertical
lower surfaces are turned outwards (Fig. 153). The petiole sinks a
little. In Gleditschia, if we understand correctly Duchartre’s
description, and in
Poinciana Gilliesii (both belonging to Tribe 13), the leaves behave in
the same manner.
Fig. 153. Haematoxylon Campechianum: A, branch during daytime; B,
branch with leaves asleep, reduced to two-thirds of natural scale.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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