THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



429 



Round each margin are twenty to thirty long teeth which 

 interlock in steel-trap fashion with those of the opposite 

 side. The center of the leaf bears numerous rose-colored 

 glands, and there are upon each half three sensitive hairs. 

 The blades shut up in from eight to ten seconds when one 

 of the sensitive hairs is touched. When an insect alights 

 or a piece of raw meat is placed upon the leaf the blades 

 close up, and the rose-colored glands pour out a fluid which 

 is practically the same as the gastric juice of the animal 

 stomach in its digestive properties. The matter of the 

 insect body or meat is thus absorbed into the substance 

 and tissues of the plant, just as food eaten and digested 

 by the animal is assimilated. The animal digestion can 

 only be carried on by the brain-force acting by means of 

 a nerve upon the gastric glands. We may therefore con- 

 cede that it is the action of the same power in the plant 

 which produces the same effect. The motor is absent but 

 the power is there. Further, the idea in this connection 

 becomes stronger from the fact that if grains of sand are 

 placed upon the leaf the glands do not give out the di- 

 gestive fluid. 



The Hedysarum of Bengal is an example of plant move- 

 ment without external cause. This plant gyrates the 

 central leaflet of its pinnule. Its lateral leaflets are, how- 

 ever, the more remarkable, for they have the strange 

 power of jerking up and down. This motion will some- 

 times stop of its own accord, and then suddenly, without 

 any apparent outside cause, commence afresh. The 

 leaves cannot be set in motion by a touch, though ex- 

 posure to cold will stop the movement. If this be tempo- 

 rarily stopped by the leaf being held, it will immediately 

 resume action after the restraint is removed, and, as if to 

 make up for lost time, will jerk up and down with in- 

 creased rapidity. 



The power of spontaneous movement is also seen in the 

 seed-spores of seaweeds and other lowly plants. These 

 spores move about in the water with absolute freedom, 

 and the filaments of many of the Liverworts exhibit a 

 capacity for extraordinary motion. In the spores of the 

 potato fungus, Phytophthora infestans, we have a well 

 marked instance of the power of movement in plants, ac- 

 cording to circumstances. \\'hen the spore-cases burst 

 a multitude of little bodies escape, and if these gain access 

 to water — a drop of dew upon the potato leaf, for instance 

 — they develop a couple of curious little tails by means of 

 which they swim about after the manner of tadpoles. The 

 power of locomotion possessed by the antherozoa of 

 ^Mosses, Ferns, etc., is again another example of this 

 power of movement. It is not so very long since these 

 were classed as animalcule, and in those days it was not 

 disputed that these so-called little animals moved con- 

 sciously and intelligently. Then there are those micro- 

 scopically beautiful unicellular plants, the Desmids and 

 Diatoms, which dart about hither and thither in water. 

 A mere cursory observation of their movements leads one 

 to believe them possessed of consciousness. 



It is not only in the fully developed vegetable organism 

 that we find evidence of the existence of brain-power, but 

 this power begins to display itself immediately after the 

 germination of the seed. In the commencement of plant 

 life we find, as in the case of grain (to give an easily 

 tested example), that the root or radicle emerges at one 

 end of the seed and the shoot or plumule at the other. 

 What causes the former to descend and the latter to 

 ascend? If the seed is so placed that the root comes out 

 at the top, the result is the same, for the root at once 

 turns round and grows downwards and the shoot vice 

 versa. This cannot be caused by gravitation, although 

 Darwin once thought so, as the force of gravity would 

 have the same effect upon the shoot as upon the root. 



There can only be one answer, the existence of a directing 

 force or brain-power. Darwin wrote: "It is hardly an 

 exaggeration to say that the tip of the radicle, endowed 

 as it is with such diverse kinds of sensitiveness, acts like 

 the brain of animals."' 



A study of the habits of climbing plants affords further 

 evidence of the existence of nervous energy, which is 

 especially marked in the sensibility of their tendrils. If 

 a pencil or rod be rubbed on the inside of the terminal 

 part of a tendril, it will almost immediately show signs 

 of curvature, and it will be fully curved in a couple of 

 minutes. A perfectly smooth body, such as a gelatine- 

 coated rod absolutely dust-free, will not produce curva- 

 ture. A tendril-bearing plant first places its tendrils ready 

 for action, just as a polypus does its tentacles. The ten- 

 dril then commences to search for something to cling to, 

 a search which may last several days, during which time 

 it revolves with a steady motion. Upon striking a suitable 

 object it quickly and firmly grasps it. In two or three 

 hours the tendril contracts into a spring and drags up the 

 stem. Movement on the part of this particular tendril 

 now ceases, it having completed its work in an admirable 

 manner. 



There appears to be considerable evidence that plants 

 have the power of vision : in fact, a professor of botany 

 at Gratz, Syria, claims to have discovered the actual eyes 

 upon the leaves of several species. The effect of light 

 upon plants in general certainly supports this view, and 

 is in many ways similar to its effect upon animals. The 

 bending of plants toward light is well known, but it has 

 been proved that there is no close parallelism between the 

 amount of light which acts on a plant and its degree of 

 curvature. Our own personal experience shows us that 

 the retina, after being exposed to a strong light, feels the 

 effect for some time, or, rather, the optic center of the 

 brain does : and in some experiments carried out by Dar- 

 win, a plant continued to bend for half an hour (after the 

 light had been removed ) towards the side which had been 

 illuminated. Some plants which had been kept in the 

 daylight did not move towards a dim lateral light as did 

 ethers which had been kept in complete darkness, thus 

 showing an analogy with the fact that our eyes scarcely 

 ) erceive a dim light after having been exposed for some 

 time to a bright one. 



One striking element in plant consciousness is the local- 

 ization of sensitiveness, and the power of transmitting 

 an influence from the excited part to another, causing the 

 latter to move. 



(Continued in .\pril number.) 



FLOWER, VEGETABLE AND GRASS SEEDS 



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