The Power of Movement in Plants | Page 8

the filament been affixed
before this bowing occurred, the chief movement would have been at
right angles to that shown in the figure. A filament was attached to
another buried hypocotyl of the same age, and it moved in a similar
general manner, but the line traced was not so complex. This hypocotyl
became almost straight, and the cotyledons were dragged from beneath
the ground on the evening of the second day.
Fig. 4. Brassica oleracea: circumnutating movement of buried and
arched hypocotyl, with the two legs of the arch tied together, traced on
horizontal glass during 33 ½ hours. Movement of the bead of filament
magnified about 26 times, and here reduced to one-half original scale.
Before the above observations were made, some arched hypocotyls
buried at the depth of a quarter of an inch were uncovered; and in order
to prevent the two legs of the arch from beginning to separate at once,
they were tied together with fine silk. This was done partly because we
wished to ascertain how long the hypocotyl, in its arched condition,
would continue to move, and whether the movement when not masked
and disturbed by the straightening process, indicated circumnutation.
Firstly a filament was fixed to the basal leg of an arched hypocotyl
close above the summit of the radicle. The cotyledons were still
partially enclosed within the seed-coats. The movement was traced (Fig.
4) from 9.20 A.M. on Dec. [page 15] 23rd to 6.45 A.M. on Dec. 25th.
No doubt the natural movement was much disturbed by the two legs
having been tied together; but we see that it was distinctly zigzag, first

in one direction and then in an almost opposite one. After 3 P.M. on the
24th the arched hypocotyl sometimes remained stationary for a
considerable time, and when moving, moved far slower than before.
Therefore, on the morning of the 25th, the glass filament was removed
from the base of the basal leg, and was fixed horizontally on the
summit of the arch, which, from the legs having been tied, had grown
broad and almost flat. The movement was now traced during 23 hours
(Fig. 5), and we
Fig. 5. Brassica oleracea: circumnutating movement of the crown of a
buried and arched hypocotyl, with the two legs tied together, traced on
a horizontal glass during 23 hours. Movement of the bead of the
filament magnified about 58 times, and here reduced to one-half
original scale.
see that the course was still zigzag, which indicates a tendency to
circumnutation. The base of the basal leg by this time had almost
completely ceased to move.
As soon as the cotyledons have been naturally dragged from beneath
the ground, and the hypocotyl has straightened itself by growth along
the inner or concave surface, there is nothing to interfere with the free
movements of the parts; and the circumnutation now becomes much
more regular and clearly displayed, as shown in the following cases:--A
seedling was placed in front and near a north-east window with a line
joining the [page 16] two cotyledons parallel to the window. It was thus
left the whole day so as to accommodate itself to the light. On the
following morning a filament was fixed to the midrib of the larger and
taller cotyledon (which enfolds the other and smaller one, whilst still
within the seed), and a mark being placed close behind, the movement
of the whole plant, that is, of the hypocotyl and cotyledon, was traced
greatly magnified on a vertical glass. At first the plant bent so much
towards the light that it was useless to attempt to trace the movement;
but at 10 A.M. heliotropism almost wholly ceased and the first dot was
Fig. 6. Brassica oleracea: conjoint circumnutation of the hypocotyl and
cotyledons during 10 hours 45 minutes. Figure here reduced to one-half
original scale.

made on the glass. The last was made at 8.45 P.M.; seventeen dots
being altogether made in this interval of 10 h. 45 m. (see Fig. 6). It
should be noticed that when I looked shortly after 4 P.M. the bead was
pointing off the glass, but it came on again at 5.30 P.M., and the course
during this interval of 1 h. 30 m. has been filled up by imagination, but
cannot be far from correct. The bead moved seven times from side to
side, and thus described 3 ½ ellipses in 10 3/4 h.; each being completed
on an average in 3 h. 4 m.
On the previous day another seedling had been observed under similar
conditions, excepting that the plant was so [page 17] placed that a line
joining the two cotyledons pointed towards the window; and the
filament was attached to the smaller cotyledon on the side furthest from
the window. Moreover the plant was now