Botany; Geotropism; Plants -- Irritability and movements
It has also been stated that each separate leaflet circumnutates. A
pinna was cemented with shellac on the summit of a little stick driven
firmly into the ground, immediately beneath a pair of leaflets, to the
midribs of both of which excessively fine glass filaments were
attached. This treatment did not injure the leaflets, for they went to
sleep in the usual manner, and long retained their sensitiveness. the
movements of one of them were traced during 49 h., as shown in Fig.
158. On the first day the leaflet sank down till 11.30 A.M., and then
rose till late in the evening in a zigzag line, indicating
circumnutation. On the second day, when more accustomed to its new
state, it oscillated twice up and twice down during the 24 h. This
plant was subjected to a rather low temperature, viz., 62°–64° F.; had
it been kept warmer, no doubt the movements of the leaflet would have
been much more rapid and complicated. It may be seen in the diagram
that the ascending and descending lines do not coincide; but the large
amount of lateral movement in the evening is the result of the leaflets
bending towards the apex of the leaf when going to sleep. Another
leaflet was casually observed, and found to be continually
circumnutating during the same length of time.
The circumnutation of the leaves is not destroyed by their being
subjected to moderately long continued darkness; but the proper
periodicity of their movements is lost. Some very young seedlings were
kept during two days in the dark (temp. 57°–59° F.) except when the
circumnutation of their stems was occasionally observed; and on the
evening of the second day the leaflets did not fully and properly go to
sleep. The pot was then placed for three days in a dark cupboard, under
nearly the same temperature, and at the close of this period the
leaflets showed no signs of sleeping, and were only slightly sensitive
to a touch. On the following day the stem was cemented to a
stick, and the movements of two leaves were traced on a vertical glass
during 72 h. The plants were still kept in the dark, excepting that at
each observation, which lasted 3 or 4 minutes, they were illuminated by
two candles. On the third day the leaflets still exhibited a vestige of
sensitiveness when forcibly pressed, but in the evening they showed no
signs of sleep. Nevertheless, their petioles continued to circumnutate
distinctly,
although the proper order of their movements in relation to the day and
night was wholly lost. Thus, one leaf descended during the first two
nights (i.e. between 10 P.M. and 7 A.M. next morning) instead of
ascending, and on the third night it moved chiefly in a lateral
direction. The second leaf behaved in an equally abnormal manner,
moving laterally during the first night, descending greatly during the
second, and ascending to an unusual height during the third night.
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