The Power of Movement in Plants by Charles Darwin (best fiction books to read TXT) 📕

* ‘Die Period. Beweg.,’ p. 159.

[page 389]

outwards. They are furnished as might have been expected from this complex kind of movement, with a pulvinus.

GYMNOSPERMS.

Pinus Nordmanniana (Coniferae).—M. Chatin states* that the leaves, which are horizontal during the day, rise up at night, so as to assume a position almost perpendicular to the branch from which they arise; we presume that he here refers to a horizontal branch. He adds: “En m�me temps, ce mouvement d’�rection est accompang� d’un mouvement de torsion imprim� � la partie basilaire de la feuille, et pouvant souvent parcourir un arc de 90

degr�s.” As the lower surfaces of the leaves are white, whilst the upper are dark green, the tree presents a widely different appearance by day and night. The leaves on a small tree in a pot did not exhibit with us any nyctitropic movements. We have seen in a former chapter that the leaves of Pinus pinaster and Austriaca are continually circumnutating.

MONOCOTYLEDONS.

Thalia dealbata (Cannaceae).—the leaves of this plant sleep by turning vertically upwards; they are furnished with a well-developed pulvinus. It is the only instance known to us of a very large leaf sleeping. The blade of a young leaf, which was as yet only 13 1/4 inches in length and 6 � in breadth, formed at noon an angle with its tall petiole of 121o, and at night stood vertically in a line with it, and so had risen 59o. The actual distance travelled by the apex (as measured by an orthogonic tracing) of another large leaf, between 7.30 A.M. and 10 P.M., was 10 � inches. The circumnutation of two young and dwarfed leaves, arising amongst the taller leaves at the base of the plant, was traced on a vertical glass during two days. On the first day the apex of one, and on the second day the apex of the other leaf, described between 6.40 A.M. and 4 P.M. two ellipses, the longer axes of which were extended in very different directions from the lines representing the great diurnal sinking and nocturnal rising movement.

Maranta arundinacea (Cannaceae).—The blades of the leaves, which are furnished with a pulvinus, stand horizontally during * ‘Comptes Rendus,’ Jan. 1876, p. 171.

[page 390]

the day or between 10o and 20o above the horizon, and at night vertically upwards. They therefore rise between 70o and 90o at night. The plant was placed at noon in the dark in the hot-house, and on the following day the movements of the leaves were traced. Between 8.40 and 10.30 A.M. they rose, and then fell greatly till 1.37 P.M. But by 3 P.M. they had again risen a little, and continued to rise during the rest of the afternoon and night; on the following morning they stood at the same level as on the previous day. Darkness, therefore, during a day and a half does not interfere with the periodicity of their movements. On a warm but stormy evening, the plant whilst being brought into the house, had its leaves violently shaken, and at night not one went to sleep. On the next morning the plant was taken back to the hot-house, and again at night the leaves did not sleep; but on the ensuing night they rose in the usual manner between 70o and 80o. This fact is analogous with what we have observed with climbing plants, namely, that much agitation checks for a time their power of circumnutation; but the effect in this instance was much more strongly marked and prolonged.

Colocasia antiquorum (Caladium esculentum, Hort.) (Aroideae).—The leaves of this plant sleep by their blades sinking in the evening, so as to stand highly inclined, or even quite vertically with their tips pointing to the ground. They are not provided with a pulvinus. The blade of one stood at noon 1 degree beneath the horizon; at 4.20 P.M., 20o; at 6 P.M. 43o; at 7.20 P.M., 69o; and at 8.30 P.M., 68o; so it had now begun to rise; at 10.15 P.M. it stood at 65o, and on the following early morning at 11o beneath the horizon. The circumnutation of another young leaf (with its petiole only 3 1/4 inches, and the blade 4 inches in length), was traced on a vertical glass during 48 h.; it was dimly illuminated through a skylight, and this seemed to disturb the proper periodicity of its movements.

Nevertheless, the leaf fell greatly during both afternoons, till either 7.10 P.M. or 9 P.M., when it rose a little and moved laterally. By an early hour on both mornings, it had assumed its diurnal position. The well-marked lateral movement for a short time in the early part of the night, was the only interesting fact which it presented, as this caused the ascending and descending lines not to coincide, in accordance with the general rule with circumnutating organs. The movements of the leaves of this plant are thus of the most simple kind; and the tracing is not worth giving. We have seen that in another genus of the Aroideae, namely, Pistia, the leaves [page 391]

rise so much at night that they may almost be said to sleep.

Strephium floribundum* (Gramineae).—The oval leaves are provided with a pulvinus, and are extended horizontally or declined a little beneath the horizon during the day. Those on the upright culms simply rise up vertically at night, so that their tips are directed towards the zenith.

(Fig. 164.)

Fig. 164. Strephium floribundum: culms with leaves during the day, and when asleep at night. Figures reduced.

Horizontally extended leaves arising from much inclined or almost horizontal culms, move at night so that their tips point towards the apex of the culm, with one lateral margin directed towards the zenith; and in order to assume this position the leaves have to twist on their own axes through an angle of nearly 90o. Thus the surface of the blade always stands vertically, whatever may be the position of the midrib or of the leaf as a whole.

The circumnutation of a young leaf (2.3 inches in length) was traced during 48 h. (Fig. 165). The movement was remarkably simple; the leaf descended from before 6.40 A.M. until 2 or 2.50 P.M., and then rose so as to stand vertically at about 6 P.M., descending again late in the night or in the very early morning.

* A. Brongniart first observed that the leaves of this plant and of Marsilea sleep: see ‘Bull. de la Soc. Bot. de France,’ tom. vii. 1860, p.

470.

[page 392]

On the second day the descending line zigzagged slightly. As usual, the ascending and descending lines did not coincide. On another occasion, when the temperature was a little higher, viz., 24o - 26 1/2o C., a leaf was observed 17 times between 8.50 A.M. and 12.16 P.M.; it changed its course by as much as a rectangle six times in this interval of 3 h. 26 m., and described two irregular triangles and a half. The leaf, therefore, on this occasion circumnutated rapidly and in a complex manner.

Fig. 165. Strephium floribundum: circumnutation and nyctitropic movement of a leaf, traced from 9 A.M. June 26th to 8.45 A.M. 27th; filament fixed along the midrib. Apex of leaf 8 1/4 inches from the vertical glass; plant illuminated from above. Temp. 23 1/2o - 24 1/2o C.

ACOTYLEDONS.

Marsilea quadrifoliata (Marsileaceae).—The shape of a leaf, expanded horizontally during the day, is shown at A (Fig. 166). Each leaflet is provided with a well-developed pulvinus. When the leaves sleep, the two terminal leaflets rise up, twist half round and come into contact with one another (B), and are afterwards embraced by the two lower leaflets (C); so that the four leaflets with their lower surfaces turned outwards form a vertical packet. The curvature of the summit of the petiole of the leaf figured asleep, is merely accidental. The plant was brought into a room, where the temperature was only a little above 60o F., and the movement of one of the leaflets (the petiole having been secured) was traced [page 393]

during 24 h. (Fig. 167). The leaf fell from the early morning till 1.50

P.M., and then rose till 6 P.M., when it was asleep. A Fig. 166. Marsilea quadrifoliata: A, leaf during the day, seen from vertically above; B, leaf beginning to go to sleep, seen laterally; C, the same asleep. Figures reduced to one-half of natural scale.

vertically dependent glass filament was now fixed to one of the terminal and inner leaflets; and part of the tracing in Fig. 167, after 6 P.M., shows that it continued to sink, making one zigzag, until 10.40 P.M. At 6.45 A.M. on the following morning, the leaf was awaking, and the filament pointed above the vertical glass,

Fig. 167. Marsilea quadrifoliata: circumnutation and nyctitropic movement of leaflet traced on vertical glass, during nearly 24 h. Figure reduced to two-thirds of original scale. Plant kept at rather too low a temperature.

but by 8.25 A.M. it occupied the position shown in the figure. The diagram differs greatly in appearance from most of those previously given; and this is due to the leaflet twisting and moving laterally as it approaches and comes into contact with

[page 394]

its fellow. The movement of another leaflet, when asleep, was traced between 6 P.M. and 10.35 P.M., and it clearly circumnutated, for it continued for two hours to sink, then rose, and then sank still lower than it was at 6 P.M. It may be seen in the preceding figure (167) that the leaflet, when the plant was subjected to a rather low temperature in the house, descended and ascended during the middle of the day in a somewhat zigzag line; but when kept in the hot-house from 9 A.M. to 3 P.M. at a high but varying temperature (viz., between 72o and 83o F.) a leaflet (with the petiole secured) circumnutated rapidly, for it made three large vertical ellipses in the course of the six hours. According to Brongniart, Marsilea pubescens sleeps like the present species. These plants are the sole cryptogamic ones known to sleep.]

Summary and Concluding Remarks on the Nyctitropic or Sleep-movements of Leaves.—That these movements are in some manner of high importance to the plants which exhibit them, few will dispute who have observed how complex they sometimes are. Thus with Cassia, the leaflets which are horizontal during the day not only bend at night vertically downwards with the terminal pair directed considerably backwards, but they also rotate on their own axes, so that their lower surfaces are turned outwards. The terminal leaflet of Melilotus likewise rotates, by which movement one of its lateral edges is directed upwards, and at the same time it moves either to the left or to the right, until its upper surface comes into contact with that of the lateral leaflet on the same side, which has likewise rotated on its own axis. With Arachis, all four leaflets form together during the night a single vertical packet; and to the effect this the two anterior leaflets have to move upwards and the two posterior ones forwards, besides all twisting on their own axes. In the genus Sida the leaves of some species move at night through an angle of 90o upwards, and of others [page 395]

through the same angle downwards. We have seen a similar difference in the nyctitropic movements of the cotyledons in the genus Oxalis. In Lupinus, again, the leaflets move either upwards or downwards; and in some species, for instance L. luteus, those on one side of the star-shaped leaf move up, and those on the opposite side move down; the intermediate ones rotating on their axes; and by these varied movements, the whole leaf forms at night a vertical star