Botany; Geotropism; Plants -- Irritability and movements
We endeavoured to trace the movements of the cotyledons, and for this
purpose some seedlings were kept in the dark, but they moved in an
abnormal manner; they continued rising from 8.45 A.M. to 2 P.M., then
moved laterally, and from 3 to 6 P.M. descended; whereas cotyledons
which have been exposed all the day to the light rise in the evening so
as to stand vertically at night; but this statement applies only to
young seedlings. For instance, six seedlings in the greenhouse had
their cotyledons partially open for the first time on the morning of
November 15th, and at 8.45 P.M. all were completely closed, so that
they might properly be said to be asleep. Again, on the morning of
November 27th, the cotyledons of four other seedlings, which were
surrounded by a collar of brown paper so that they received light only
from above, were open to the extent of 39°; at 10 P.M. they were
completely closed; next morning (November 28th) at 6.45 A.M. whilst it
was still dark, two of them
were partially open and all opened in the course of the morning; but at
10.20 P.M. all four (not to mention nine others which had been open in
the morning and six others on another occasion) were again completely
closed. On the morning of the 29th they were open, but at night only
one of the four was closed, and this only partially; the three others
had their cotyledons much more raised than during the day. On the night
of the 30th the cotyledons of the four were only slightly raised.
Ricinus Borboniensis (Euphorbiaceae).—Seeds were purchased under the
above name—probably a variety of the common castor-oil plant. As soon
as an arched hypocotyl had risen clear above the ground, a filament was
attached to the upper leg bearing the cotyledons which were still
buried beneath the surface, and the movement of the bead was traced on
a horizontal glass during a period of 34 h. The lines traced were
strongly zigzag, and as the bead twice returned nearly parallel to its
former course in two different directions, there could be no doubt that
the arched hypocotyl circumnutated. At the close of the 34 h. the upper
part began to rise and straighten itself, dragging the cotyledons out
of the ground, so that the movements of the bead could no longer be
traced on the glass.
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