198 CONCLUDING REMARKS. Cuar. V. 
common with plants, than is generally supposed to be 
the case by those who have not attended to the subject. 
Ihave given one remarkable instance, namely that of 
the Mawrandia semperflorens, the young flower-peduncles 
of which spontaneously revolve in very small circles, 
and bend when gently rubbed to the touched side; 
yet this plant ‘certainly does not profit by these two 
feebly developed powers. A rigorous examination of 
other young plants would probably show slight spon- 
taneous movements in their stems, petioles or pe- ; 
duncles, as well as sensitiveness to a touch.* We see 
at least that the Mawrandia might, by a little aug- 
mentation of the powers which it already possesses, 
come first to grasp a support by its flower-peduncles, 
and then, by the abortion of some of its flowers (as with 
Vitis or Cardiospermum), acquire perfect tendrils. 
There is one other interesting point which deserves 
notice. We have seen that some tendrils owe their 
origin to modified leaves, and others to modified flower- 
peduncles ; so that some are foliar and others axial 
in their nature. It might therefore have been expected 
that they would have presented some difference in 
function. This is not the case. On the contrary, they 
* Such slight spontaneous shown inrelation toour present sub- 
movements, I now find, have been 
for some time known to occur, 
for instance with the flower-stems 
of Brassica napus and with the 
leaves of many plants: Sachs’ 
‘Text-Book of Botany’ 1875, pp. 
766, 785. Fritz Miiller also has 
ject (‘Jenaischen Zeitschrift,’ Bd. 
V. Heft 2, p. 133) that the stems, 
whilst young, of an Alisma and 
of a Linum are continually 
performing slight movements to 
all points of the compass, like 
those of climbing plants. 
