30 



ACTIVE ALBUMEN 



Active albumen can be stored up in higher and lower plant- 

 forms and in most different parts of plants. Thus we obtain 

 proteosomes by coffein or antipyrin with leaves of all insectivo- 

 rous plants except with Utricularia. Drosera shows it in all parts 

 of the leaves, stem, and flower. 1 ' The most remarkable however 

 among all insectivorous plants is in this regard Ccphalotus, con- 

 taining in all parts astonishing quantities of stored-up active 

 albumen. Further objects are : The subepidermial cells of the 

 leaves of Crassulaccae as Cotyledon, Echeveria, Sedum ; the 

 epidermial cells of Primula sinensis and Pelargonium ; the hairs 

 of the stems of Begonia and of many other plants; the petals of 

 Cyclamen, Cornus, Tulipa, Epidendron ; the anthers of Eugenia, 

 Melaleuca and Forsythia ; the pistils of Crocus vermis, Rhodo- 

 dendron, Salix, Euphorbia ; the peduncles and petals (sometimes 

 also young seeds) of : 



Gentiana, Primula, Scrofularia, Impatiens Sultani, 



Hoteia japonica, Pirus Malus, Prunus Cerasus, 



Amorphophallus Rivieri, Viburnum rugosum, 



Sorbus aucuparia, Thea chinensis ; 

 the flowers and young leaves of Rheum, Acer, Populus, Acacia, 

 Crataegus oxyacantha, Mimosa pudica ; the nectaria of Passiflora. 



In some plants it is found only at certain stages of develop- 

 ment, as in the petals of malvae, in unripe snowberries (Sym- 

 phoricarpus racemosus), in cotyledons of Helianthus, in the 

 larger cells of Vallisneria-leaves. 



Whether fungi ever store up active albumen as a reserve- 

 material is still doubtful ; 2) among the algae are the various 

 kinds of Spirogyra the most noticeable ones, Vaucheria contains 

 it occasionally, Mesocarpus, Oscillaria, Oedogonium, Sphaero- 

 plea, Palmella, Desmidiaceae and Diatomeae never, so far as 

 our observations reach. Of higher organised plants not contain- 

 ing this reserve-material may be mentioned: Leaves and roots 



1) The socalled aggregation observed first by Darwin with the tentacles of 

 Drosera is a different process, but Bokorny has shown, that there exist certain points 

 of connection between the two phenomena. Compare Pringsheims Jahrb. Vol. 20 

 p. 465. 



2) We have however observed silver-reduction in black dots with spores of 

 Gymnosporangium, and with Saccharomyces cultivated at low temperature in a 

 solution free of sugar. 



