ANAEROBIC RESPIRATION 55 



Plant Material i/n 



Germinating seeds of V-icia Faba o-99 



Germinating seeds of Vicia Faba i . 09 



Germinating seeds of Vicia Faba 0.83 



Germinating seeds of Vicia Faba 1.20 



Seedlings of Triiicum vulgare 0.49 



Seedlings of Cucurbila Pcpo o- 35 



Seedlings of Sinapis alba o. 18 



Seedlings of Sinapis alba 0.18 



Seedlings of Brassica Napits o. 25 



Seedlings of Cannabis saliva o. 34 



Seedlings of HeUanthiis anninis 0.35 



Seedlings of Lupinus liilcus o. 24 



Unripe fruits of Heracleum giganteum 0.42 



Leafy twigs of Abies excelsa 0.08 



Stem of Orobanche ramosa 0.32 



Spike of Arum mactdatum 0.62 



Leafy shoots of Ligustrum vulgare 0.82 



Fruiting bodies of Lactarius piperalus 0.32 



Fruiting bodies of Hydnum repandum o. 26 



Fruiting bodies of Cantharellus cibarius 0.67 



Yeast on a solution of lactose o-3i 



From the above table it is evident that the value of I/N 

 does not remain constant for different plants. 



Moeller^ also carried out determinations of I/N with various 

 seedlings and obtained equally fluctuating results. Whether 

 any theoretical meaning can be attributed to determinations of 

 I/N is questionable, since the rate of anaerobic respiration 

 generally decreases from hour to hour. This is particularly 

 true of such plants as are found to have a small value of I/N. 

 On account of a lack of working energy and because of the 

 poisoning by toxic products of the anaerobic metabolism, the 

 plant becomes paralyzed and gradually dies. Under such 

 conditions the value of I/N depends in the first place upon how 

 long the plant remained under anaerobic conditions. For this 

 reason divergent results are often obtained with the same 

 research material. More recently Boysen- Jensen^ has again 

 carried out determinations of I/N. His results are given in 

 the following table. 



1 Moeller. Ber. d. bot. Ges. 2: 306. 1884. 



2 Boysen-Jensen, P. Det kgl. danske videnskabernes selskab. biol. meddelelser. 4:1. 

 1933. 



