Botany; Geotropism; Plants -- Irritability and movements
The cotyledons of seedlings only a day old rise at night considerably,
sometimes as much as afterwards; but there was much variation in this
respect. As the pulvinus is so indistinct at first, the movement
probably does not then depend on the expansion of its cells, but on
periodically unequal growth in the petiole. By the comparison of
seedlings of different known ages, it was evident that the chief seat
of growth of the petiole was in the upper part between the pulvinus and
the blade; and this agrees with the fact (shown in the measurements
above given) that the cells grow to a greater length in the upper than
in the lower part. With a seedling 11 days old, the nocturnal rise was
found to depend largely on the action of the pulvinus, for the petiole
at night was curved upwards at this point; and during the day, whilst
the petiole was horizontal, the lower surface of the pulvinus was
wrinkled with the upper surface tense. Although the cotyledons at an
advanced age do not rise at night to a higher inclination than whilst
young, yet they have to pass through a larger angle (in one instance
amounting to 63°) to gain their nocturnal position, as they are
generally deflected beneath the horizon during the day. Even with the
11-days’ old seedling the movement did not depend exclusively on the
pulvinus, for the blade where joined to the petiole was curved upwards,
and this must be attributed to unequal growth. Therefore the periodic
movements of the cotyledons of ‘O. corniculata’ depend on two distinct
but conjoint actions, namely, the expansion of the cells of the
pulvinus and on the growth of the upper part of the petiole, including
the base of the blade.
Lotus Jacoboeus.—The seedlings of this plant present a case parallel to
that of Oxalis corniculata in some respects, and in others unique, as
far as we have seen. The cotyledons during the first 4 or 5 days of
their life do not exhibit any plain nocturnal movement; but afterwards
they stand vertically or almost vertically up at night. There is,
however, some degree of variability in this respect, apparently
dependent on the season and on the degree to which they have been
illuminated during
the day. With older seedlings, having cotyledons 4 mm. in length, which
rise considerably at night, there is a well-developed pulvinus close to
the blade, colourless, and rather narrower than the rest of the
petiole, from which it is abruptly separated. It is formed of a mass of
small cells of an average length of .021 mm.; whereas the cells in the
lower part of the petiole are about .06 mm., and those in the blade
from .034 to .04 mm. in length. The epidermic cells in the lower part
of the petiole project conically, and thus differ in shape from those
over the pulvinus.
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