CHAP. Y. EPINASTY AND HYPONASTY. 279 



10.30 P.M. it had descended to a point lower down by two-thirds 

 of the length of the figure as here given ; but from want of space 

 the tracing has been copied in B, only to a little after 6 P.M. On 

 the morning of the 9th the flower was withered, and the sub- 

 peduncle now stood at an angle of 57 beneath the horizon. If 

 the flower had been fertilised it would have withered much 

 sooner, and have moved much more quickly. We thus see that 

 the sub-peduncle oscillated up and down, or circumnutated, 

 during its whole downward epinastic course. 



The sub-peduncles of the fertilised and withered flowers 

 of Oxalis carnosa likewise bend downwards through epinasty, 

 as will be shown in a future chapter; and theii downward 

 course is strongly zigzag, indicating circumnutation. 



The number of instances in which various organs 

 move through epinasty or hyponasty, often in com- 

 bination with other forces, for the most diversified 

 purposes, seems to be inexhaustibly great ; and from 

 the several cases which have been here given, we may 

 safely infer that such movements are due to modified 

 circumnutation. 



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