44 TRANSPIRATION IN A DESERT PERENNIAL. 



Experiment X, which was an attempt to investigate this relation in 

 another way, brings out the fact that the relative transpiration of a plant of 

 potted Parkinsonia microphylla in a soil of 3 per cent moisture is only one- 

 sixtieth to one-hundredth the amount the same plant gives when its soil 

 moisture is 14 per cent, and that this change takes place without loss of 

 leaves. Now, experiment XVII shows that when the same plants, which 

 experiment X shows behave similarly under similar conditions of soil- 

 moisture, are run together under identical atmospheric conditions but under 

 different conditions of soil-moisture, the stomatal diameters in the plant 

 having a soil of 3 per cent moisture are about one-seventh of those from the 

 plant having a soil of 14 per cent moisture. Evidently a lowering of the 

 soil moisture means a lessening of the relative transpiration and also a 

 shutting up of the stomata, but it will be noted that the transpiration rates 

 are not proportional to the linear dimensions of the stomatal openings. 



Lloyd's calculations for Fonquieria splendens* show that the closure of 

 stomata is not the cause of changes in relative transpiration rate. This is 

 perhaps true of other plants, and with this in view the following hypothesis 

 was framed as the starting-point for the work which follows. The morning 

 drop is caused bj^ a deficiencj^ in water in the transpiring tissues, due in turn 

 to the supply from the lower tissues not being equal to the demand of the 

 evaporating power of the air. This deficiency of water in the leaves causes 

 a closure of stomata simply because water is drawn from the guard cells in 

 the same manner as from the other cells. The diminished size of the open- 

 ings would cause a rise of humidity within the intercellular spaces and thus a 

 checking of the evaporation rate within the leaf, even though the stomata 

 did not close down enough to check the theoretical amount of vapor diffused 

 through the openings. Thus the closure may act to further check transpi- 

 ration, and meantime the ratio of outgo to intake has lessened and all the 

 cells, including the guard cells, gain water and the latter open mechanically, 

 after which transpiration goes on more rapidly, but does not reach the former 

 high rate unless the ratio of outgo to intake reaches unit}''. However, in the 

 case of young plants without leaves the early maximum and drop occur; 

 and in the case of the leafless branch of an adult tree the drop is followed by 

 a subsequent rise. It will be seen from table 17 that the stomata of twigs 

 remain nearly closed all of the time, and this leads to the conclusion that the 

 lessening of the relative transpiration rate before the maximum evaporation 

 rate for the day has been reached may take place without a change in sto- 

 matal opening. 



In experiment I the readings were not taken at frequent enough intervals 

 to discover a rise after the drop, if it occurred. In experiment II a flattening 

 of the curve occurs after the drop, but no distinct rise; while in experiment 

 IV the rise after the drop is less in amount than in cases where plants in 

 leaf were used; this may mean that the closure and subsequent reopening of 



*LIoyd, F. E., The physiologj' of stomata, Carn. Inst. Wash. Pub. 82, pp. 136-137, 1908. 



