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Chapter three of The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants
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by Charles Darwin. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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Tendril bearers, nature of tendrils Bignonacia, various species of and
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their different modes of climbing. Tendrils which avoid the light
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and creep into crevices. Development of adhesive discs, excellent adaptations
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for seizing different kinds of supports. Polmonacia corboil scandons, much
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branched and hooked tendrils, their manner of action, Lucminosia compositasia,
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Similacia similax aspera its inefficient tendrils, Pumeriacia cordelis claviculata its
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state intermediate between that of a leaf climber and a
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tendril bearer. By tendrils, I mean filamentary organs sensitive to
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contact and used exclusively for climbing. By this definition, spines, hooks,
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and rootlets, all of which are used for climbing, are excluded.
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True tendrils are formed by the modification of leaves with
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their petioles, of flower, peduncles, branches, and perhaps stipules. Mole
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who includes under the name of tendrils various organs having
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a similar external appearance, classes them according to their homological
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nature as being modified leaves, flower, peduncles, et cetera. This
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would be an excellent scheme, but I observe that botanists
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are by no means unanimous on the homological nature of
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certain tendrils. Consequently, I will describe tendril barren plants by
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natural families following Lindley's classification, and this will in most
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cases keep those of the same nature together. The species
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to be described belong to ten families and will be
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given in the following order. Bignornacia Polmonaceae Lugmeno compositase, Similacea, flumeriaica, cucurbertae, Cia, Betacia,
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Sapindacia Passifloraca, Bignonacia. This family contains many tendril bearers, some twiners,
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and some root climbers. The tendrils always consist of modified leaves.
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Nine species of Bignonia selected by Hazard are here described
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in order to show what diversity of structure and action
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there may be within the same genus, and to show
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what remarkable powers some tendrils possess. The species taken together
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afford connecting links between twiners, leaf climbers, tendril bearers, and
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root climbers. Bignonia an unnamed species from q closely allied
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to b Aungris, but with smaller and rather broader leaves.
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A young shoot from a cut down plant made three
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revolutions against the sun at an average rate of two
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hour six minutes. The stem is thin and flexible. It
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twined round a slender vertical stick, ascending from left to
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right as perfectly and as regularly as any true twining plant.
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When thus ascending, it makes no use of its tendrils
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or petioles. But when it twined round a rather thick
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stick and its petioles were brought into contact with it,
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these curved round the sticks, showing that they have some
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degree of irritability. The petioles also exhibit a slight degree
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of spontaneous movement, for in one case they certainly described minute,
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irregular vertical ellipses. The tendrils apparently curved themselves spontaneously to
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the same side with the petioles, but from various causes
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it was difficult to observe the movement of either the
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tendrils or petioles In this and the two following species,
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The tendrils are so closely similar in all respects to
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those of the Ungwiss that one description will suffice Bignonia Ungwis.
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The young shoots revolve, but less regularly and less quickly
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than those of the last species. The stem twines imperfectly
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round a vertical stick, sometimes reversing its direction, in the
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same manner as described in so many leaf climbers, and
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this plant, though possessing tendrils, climbs to a stertained extent
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like a leaf climber. Each leaf consists of a petiole
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bearing a pair of leaflets, and terminates in a tendril,
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which is formed by the modification of three leaflets and
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closely resembles that above figured Fig. Five. But it is
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a little larger, and in a young plant, was about
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half an engine length. It is curiously like the leg
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Load full transcript
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and foot of a small bird with a hind toe
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cut off. The straight leg or tarsus, is longer than
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the three toes, which are of equal length and diverging
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lie in the same plane. The toes terminate in sharp,
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hard claws, much curved downwards, like those on a bird's foot.
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The petiole of the leaf is sent to contact. Even
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a small loop of thread suspended for two days caused
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it to bend upwards. But the subpediles of the two
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lateral leaflets are not sensitive. The whole tendril, namely the tarsus,
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and the three toes are likewise sensitive to contact, especially
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on their under surfaces. When a shoot grows in the
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midst of thin branches, the tendrils are soon brought by
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the revolving movement of the internodes into contact with them,
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and then one toe of the tendril, or more commonly
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all three, bend and after several hours seese a fast
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hold of the twigs like a bird when perched. If
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the tarsus of the tendril comes into contact with a twig,
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it goes on slowly bending until the whole foot is
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carried quite round, and the toe passes on each side
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of the tarsus and seas it in like manner. If
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the petile comes into contact with a twig, it bends round,
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carrying the tendril, which then seizes its own petiole or
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that of the opposite leaf. The petioles move spontaneously, and
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thus when a shoot attempts to twine round an upright stick,
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those on both sides. After a time come into contact
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with it and are excited to bend. Ultimately, the two
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petioles clasp the stick in opposite directions, and the foot
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like tendrils, seizing on each other or on their own petioles,
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fasten the stem to the support with surprising security. The
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tendrils are thus brought into action if the stem twines
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round a thin vertical stick, and in this respect the
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present species differs from the last. Both species use their
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tendrils in the same manner when passing through a thicket.
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This plant is one of the most efficient climbers
which
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I have observed, and it probably could ascend a polished
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stem incessantly tossed by heavy storms. To show how important
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vigorous health is for the action of all the parts,
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I may mention that when I first examined a plant
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which was growing moderately well, though not vigorously, I concluded
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that the tendrils acted only like the hooks on a bramble,
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and that it was a most feeble and inefficient of
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all climbers. Bignonia twidiana. This species is closely allied to
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the last and behaves in the same manner, but perhaps
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twines rather better round a vertical stick. On the same plant,
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one branch twined in one direction and another in an
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opposite direction. The internodes in one case made two circles
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each in two hours thirty three minutes. I was enabled
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to observe the spontaneous movements of the petioles better in
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this than in the preceding two species. One petiole described
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three small vertical ellipses in the course of eleven hours,
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whilst another moved in an irregular spire. Some little time
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after a stem has twined round an upright stick and
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is securely fastened to it by the clasping petioles and tendrils,
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it emits aerial roots from the bases of its leaves,
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and these roots curve partly round and adhere to the stick.
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The species of Bignonia therefore combines four different methods of climbing,
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generally characteristic of distinct plants, namely twining, leaf climbing, tendril climbing,
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and root climbing. In the three foregoing species, when the
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foot like tendril has caught an object, it continues to
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grow and thicken and ultimately becomes wonderfully strong. In the
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same manner as the pediles of leaf climbers. If the
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tendril catches nothing, it first slowly bends downwards, and then
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its power of clasping is lost. Very soon afterwards, it
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articulates itself from the pediole and drops off like a
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leaf in autumn. I have seen that this process of
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derse articulation in no other tendrils, for
these, when they
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fail to catch an object, merely wither away. Bignonia venusta.
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The tendrils differ considerably from those of the previous species.
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The lower part, or tarsus, is four times as long
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as the three toes. These are of equal length and
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diverge equally, but do not lie in the same plane.
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Their tips are bluntly hooked, and the whole tendril makes
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an excellent grapnel. The tarsus is sensitive on all sides,
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but the three toes are sensitive only on their outer surfaces.
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The sensitiveness is not much developed. For A slight rubbing
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with the twig did not cause the tarsus or the
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toes to become curved until an hour had elapsed, and
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then only in a slight degree. Subsequently, they straightened themselves.
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Both the tarsus and toes can seize well hold of sticks.
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If the stem is secured, The tendrils are seen spontaneously
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to sweep large ellipses, the two opposite tendrils moving independently
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of one another. I have no doubt from the analogy
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of the two form following allied species, that the petioles
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also move spontaneously, but they are not irritable like those
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of B. Ungliss and B. Tridiana. The young internodes sweep
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large circles, one being completed in two hours fifteen minutes
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and a second in two hours fifty five minutes. By
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these combined movements of the internodes of petioles and grapnel
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leg tendrils, the latter are soon brought into contact with
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surrounding objects. When a choote stands near an upright stick,
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it twines regularly and spirally round it. As it ascends,
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it ceases the stick with one of its tendrils, and
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if the stick be thin, the right and left hand
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tendrils are alternately used. This alternation follows from the stem
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necessarily taking one twist round its own axis for each
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completed circle. The tendril's contract spirally a short time after
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catching any object those which catch nothing nearly bend slowly downwards.
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But the whole subject of the spiral contraction
of the
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tendrils will be discussed after all. The tendril bearing species
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have been described. Bignonia littoralis. The young internodes revolved in
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large ellipses. An internode bearing immature tendrils made two revolutions
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each in three hours fifty minutes, but when grown older,
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with the tendrils mature, it made two ellipses each at
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the rate of two hours forty four minutes. This species,
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unlike the preceding, is incapable of twining round a stick.
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It does not appear to be due to any want
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of flexibility in the internodes, or to the action of
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the tendrils, and certainly not to any want of the
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revolving power. Nor can I account for the fact. Nevertheless,
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the plant readily ascends a thin upright stick by seizing
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a point above it with its two opposite tendrils, which
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then contract spirally. If the tendril sees nothing, they do
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not become spiral. The species last described ascended a vertical
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stick by twining spirally and by seizing it alternately with
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its opposite tendrils. Like a sailor pulling himself up a
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rope hand over hand. The present species pulls itself up
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like a sailor seizing with both hands together a rope
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above his head. The tendrils are similar in structure to
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those of the last species. They continue growing for some
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time even after they have clasped an object. When fully grown,
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though borne by a young plant, they are nine inches
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in length. The three divergent toes are shorter relatively to
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the tarsus than in the former species. They are blocked
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at their tips and but slightly hooked. They are not
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quite equal in length, the middle one being rather longer
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than the others. Their outer surfaces are highly sensitive, for
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when lightly rubbed with a twig, they become perceptibly curved
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in four minutes and greatly curved in seven minutes. In
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seven hours, they became straight again and were ready to react.
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The tarsus, for the space of one inch close to
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the toes, is sensitive, but in a rather less degree
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than the toes. For the latter, after a slight rubbing,
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became curved in about half the time. Even the middle
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part of the tarsus is sensitive to prolonged contact. As
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soon as the tendril has arrived at maturity. After it
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has grown, all the sensitiveness is confined to the toes,
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and these are only able to curl very slowly round
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a stick. A tendril is perfectly ready to act as
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soon as the three toes have diverged, and at this
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period their outer surfaces first become irritable. The irritability spreads
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but little from one part when excited to another. Thus,
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when a stick was caught by the part immediately beneath
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the three toes, these seldom clasped it, but remained sticking
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straight aft. The tendrils revolve spontaneously. The movement begins before
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the tendril is converted into a three pronged grapnel by
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the divergence of the toes, and before any part has
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become sensitive, so that the revolving movement is useless at
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this early period. The movement is also now slow, to
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ellipses being completed conjointly in twenty four hours eighteen minutes.
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A mature tendril made an ellipse in six hours, so
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that moved much more slowly than the internodes. The ellipses,
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which were swept both in a vertical and horizontal plane
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were of large size. The petioles are not in the
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least sensitive, but revolve like the tendrils. We thus see
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that the young internodes, the petioles, and the tendrils all
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continue revolving together, but at different rates. The movements of
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the tendrils, which rise opposite one another, are quite independent. Hence,
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when the whole shoot is allowed freely to revolve, nothing
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can be more intricate than the course followed by the
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extremity of each tendril. A wide space is thus irregularly
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searched for some object to be grasped. One other curious
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point remains to be mentioned. In the course of a
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few days, after the toes
have closely clasped a stick,
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their blunt extremities become developed, though not invariably, into irregular
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disc like balls, which have the power of adhering firmly
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to the wood. As similar cellular outgrowths will be fully
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described under the caprilata, I will hear say nothing more
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about them. Bignonia equinoctalis variation in Chamberlayne. The internodes, the elongated,
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non sensitive petiles, and the tendrils all revolve. The stem
231
00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:14.279
does not twine, but ascends a vertical stick in the
232
00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:18.000
same manner as the last species. The tendrils also resemble
233
00:15:18.120 --> 00:15:21.159
those of the last species, but are shorter. The three
234
00:15:21.240 --> 00:15:24.159
toes are more unequal in length, the two outer ones
235
00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.600
being about one third shorter and rather thinner than the
236
00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:30.639
middle toe, but they vary in this respect. They terminate
237
00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:34.679
in small hard points, and of what is important, cellular
238
00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:38.960
adhesive discs are not developed. The reduced size of the
239
00:15:39.000 --> 00:15:42.399
two toes, as well as their lessened sensitiveness, seem to
240
00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:45.919
indicate a tendency to abortion, and on one of my plants,
241
00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:49.600
the first formed tendrils were sometimes simple, that is, not
242
00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:53.440
divided into three toes. We are thus naturally led to
243
00:15:53.519 --> 00:16:00.120
the three following species with undivided tendrils. Bignonia speciosa. The
244
00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:04.720
young shoots revolve irregularly, making narrow lipses, spires, or circles
245
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:07.679
at rates varying from three hour thirty minutes to four
246
00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:11.480
hour forty minutes, but they show no tendance each twine.
247
00:16:11.960 --> 00:16:14.840
Whilst the plant is young and does not require a support,
248
00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:18.360
tendrils are not developed. Those borne by a moderately young
249
00:16:18.440 --> 00:16:22.679
plant were five inches in length. They revolve spontaneously, as
250
00:16:22.759 --> 00:16:26.320
do the short and non sensitive petules, when rubbed facially,
251
00:16:26.360 --> 00:16:29.360
bend to the rub side and subsequently straighten themselves, but
252
00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:33.000
they are not highly sensitive. There is something strange in
253
00:16:33.039 --> 00:16:37.440
their behavior. I repeatedly placed close to them thick and thin,
254
00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:40.759
rough and smooth sticks and posts, as well as the
255
00:16:40.759 --> 00:16:44.320
string suspended vertically, but none of the objects were well seized.
256
00:16:44.759 --> 00:16:48.320
After clasping an upright stick, they repeatedly loosed it again
257
00:16:48.559 --> 00:16:51.399
and often would not seize it at all, or their
258
00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:55.799
extremities did not coil closely round. I have observed hundreds
259
00:16:55.799 --> 00:17:01.679
of tendrils belonging to very concurbidaceous, passifloracious and Lugamenos plants,
260
00:17:01.759 --> 00:17:06.160
and have never saw one behave in this manner. When, however,
261
00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:08.160
my plant had grown to a height of eight or
262
00:17:08.240 --> 00:17:12.200
nine feet, the tendrils acted much better. They now seized
263
00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:15.400
a thin upright stick horizontally, that is, at a point
264
00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:17.759
on their own level, and not some way up the stick,
265
00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:21.319
as in the case of all the previous species. Nevertheless,
266
00:17:21.319 --> 00:17:24.400
the non twining stem was enabled by these means to
267
00:17:24.440 --> 00:17:28.759
ascend the stick. The extremity of the tendril is almost
268
00:17:28.920 --> 00:17:33.240
straight and sharp. The whole terminal portion exhibits a singular habit,
269
00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:36.119
which in an animal would be called an instinct, for
270
00:17:36.200 --> 00:17:39.359
it continually searches for any little crevice or hole into
271
00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:43.319
which to insert itself. I had two young plants, and
272
00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:46.720
after having observed this habit, I placed them near posts
273
00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:49.720
which have been bored by beetles or have become fissured
274
00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:53.160
by drying. The tendrils, by their own movement and by
275
00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:56.319
that of the internodes, slowly traveled over the surface of
276
00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:58.720
the wood, and when the apex came to a hole
277
00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:03.279
or fissure, it aserted itself. In order to effect this extremity,
278
00:18:03.759 --> 00:18:06.720
for a length of half or quarter of an inch,
279
00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:10.200
would often bend itself at right angles to the basal part.
280
00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:14.279
I have watched this process between twenty and thirty times.
281
00:18:14.680 --> 00:18:17.559
The same tendril would frequently withdraw from one hole and
282
00:18:17.680 --> 00:18:20.920
insert its point into a second hole. I have also
283
00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:23.359
seen a tendril keep its point in one case for
284
00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:26.400
twenty hours and in another for thirty six hours in
285
00:18:26.440 --> 00:18:30.519
a minute hole, and then withdraw it. Whilst the point
286
00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:34.480
is thus temporarily inserted, the opposite tendril goes on revolving
287
00:18:35.960 --> 00:18:39.240
the whole length of a tendril often fits itself closely
288
00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:41.759
to any surface of wood with which it has come
289
00:18:41.799 --> 00:18:45.000
into contact, and I have observed one bent at right
290
00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:48.720
angles from having entered a wide and deep fissure, with
291
00:18:48.799 --> 00:18:53.359
its apex abruptly rebent and inserted into a minute lateral hole.
292
00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:57.680
After a tendril has clasped a stick, it contracts spirally
293
00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:02.359
if it remains unattached its straight downwards, if it has
294
00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:05.440
merely adapted itself to the inequalities of a thick post
295
00:19:05.519 --> 00:19:08.839
though it has clasped nothing, or if it has inserted
296
00:19:08.880 --> 00:19:12.759
its apex into some little fissure, the stimulus suffices to
297
00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:16.799
induce spiral contraction. But the contraction always draws the tendril
298
00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:20.559
away from the post, so that in every case these movements,
299
00:19:20.759 --> 00:19:24.519
which seem so nicely adapted for some purpose, were useless.
300
00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:28.559
On one occasion, however, the tip became permanently jammed into
301
00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:32.440
a narrow fissure. I fully expected from the analogy of B.
302
00:19:32.839 --> 00:19:36.799
Caprolata and B. Littoralis that the tips would have been
303
00:19:36.920 --> 00:19:40.759
developed into adhesive disks, but I could never detect even
304
00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:44.240
a trace of this process. There is, therefore, at present
305
00:19:44.319 --> 00:19:49.920
something unintelligible about the habits of this plant, Bignonia pictup.
306
00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:53.839
The species closely resembles the last in the structured movement
307
00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:57.720
of its tendrils. I also casually examined a fine growing
308
00:19:57.759 --> 00:20:01.720
plant of the allied B. Lindl lay, and this apparently
309
00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:06.599
behaved in all respects in the same manner Bignonia capriolata.
310
00:20:07.319 --> 00:20:09.680
We now come to a species having tendrils of a
311
00:20:09.720 --> 00:20:13.599
different type, but first for the internodes. A young shoot
312
00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:17.119
made three large revolutions following the sun at an average
313
00:20:17.200 --> 00:20:19.920
rate of two hours twenty three minutes. The stem is
314
00:20:19.960 --> 00:20:22.559
thin and flexible, and I have seen one make four
315
00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:26.759
regular spiral turns round a thin upright stick, ascending of
316
00:20:26.799 --> 00:20:30.240
course from right to left, and therefore in a reversed
317
00:20:30.359 --> 00:20:34.799
direction compared with the before described species. Afterwards, from the
318
00:20:34.839 --> 00:20:37.960
interference of the tendrils, it ascended either straight up to
319
00:20:38.039 --> 00:20:42.200
stick or in an irregular spire. The tendrils are, in
320
00:20:42.240 --> 00:20:45.680
some respects highly remarkable. In a young plant, they were
321
00:20:45.720 --> 00:20:48.279
about two and a half inches in length and much branched.
322
00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:52.319
The five chief branches apparently representing two pairs of leaflets
323
00:20:52.359 --> 00:20:56.359
and a terminal one. Each branch is, however, bifit or
324
00:20:56.440 --> 00:21:00.519
more commonly trifed towards the extremity, with the points blunt
325
00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:04.440
yet distinctly hooked. A tendril bends to any side which
326
00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:08.000
is lightly rubbed, and subsequently comes straight again. But a
327
00:21:08.039 --> 00:21:11.119
loop of thread weighing one fourth of a grain produced
328
00:21:11.240 --> 00:21:15.519
no effect. On two occasions, the terminal branches became slightly
329
00:21:15.559 --> 00:21:18.119
curved in ten minutes after they had touched a stick,
330
00:21:18.480 --> 00:21:21.079
and in thirty minutes the tips were curled quite round it.
331
00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:25.039
The basal part is less sensitive. The tendrils revolved in
332
00:21:25.079 --> 00:21:29.160
their apparently capricious manner, sometimes very slightly or not at all.
333
00:21:29.480 --> 00:21:33.480
At other times they described large, regular ellipses. I could
334
00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:37.079
detect no spontaneous movement in the petioles of the leaves.
335
00:21:37.559 --> 00:21:41.240
Whilst the tendrils are revolving more or less regularly, another
336
00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:45.119
remarkable movement takes place, namely, a slow inclination from the
337
00:21:45.240 --> 00:21:48.640
light towards the darkest side of the house. I repeatedly
338
00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:51.519
changed the position of my plants, and some little time
339
00:21:51.559 --> 00:21:55.240
after the revolving movement had ceased, the successively formed tendrils
340
00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:58.920
always ended by pointing to the darkest side. When I
341
00:21:58.960 --> 00:22:01.480
placed a thick post near a tendril between it and
342
00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:06.000
the light. The tendril pointed in that direction. In two instances,
343
00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:08.799
a pair of leaves stood so that one of the
344
00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:11.319
two tendrils was directed towards the light, and the other
345
00:22:11.400 --> 00:22:14.079
to the darkest side of the house. The latter did
346
00:22:14.119 --> 00:22:17.240
not move, but the opposite one mend itself first upwards
347
00:22:17.519 --> 00:22:20.039
and then right over its fellow, so that the two
348
00:22:20.119 --> 00:22:23.359
became parallel, one above the other, both pointing to the
349
00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:26.960
dark I then turned the plant round, and the tendril,
350
00:22:27.000 --> 00:22:30.079
which had turned over, recovered its original position, and the
351
00:22:30.119 --> 00:22:33.400
opposite one, which had not before moved, now turned over
352
00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:37.359
to the dark side. Lastly, on another plant, three pairs
353
00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:40.480
of tendrils were produced at the same time by three shoots,
354
00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:44.039
and all happened to be differently directed. I placed the
355
00:22:44.039 --> 00:22:46.799
pot in a box, open only on one side and
356
00:22:46.839 --> 00:22:50.559
obliquely facing the light. In two days, all six tendrils
357
00:22:50.559 --> 00:22:54.119
pointed with unerring truth to the darkest corner of the box.
358
00:22:54.440 --> 00:22:56.480
Though to do this each had to bend in a
359
00:22:56.519 --> 00:23:00.400
different manner. Six wind vanes could not have more truly
360
00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:03.400
shown the direction of the wind. Then did these branched
361
00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:06.440
tendrils the course of the stream of light which entered
362
00:23:06.440 --> 00:23:10.240
the box. I left these tendrils undisturbed for above twenty
363
00:23:10.279 --> 00:23:13.480
four hours, and then turned the pot half round. But
364
00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:16.279
they had now lost their power of movement and could
365
00:23:16.319 --> 00:23:19.839
no longer avoid the light. When a tendril has not
366
00:23:19.960 --> 00:23:23.279
succeeded in clasping the support, either through its own revolving
367
00:23:23.359 --> 00:23:26.079
movement or that of the shoot, or by turning towards
368
00:23:26.119 --> 00:23:29.960
any object which intercepts the light, it bends vertically downwards,
369
00:23:29.960 --> 00:23:33.079
and then towards its own stem, which it seizes together
370
00:23:33.119 --> 00:23:36.359
with the supporting stick, if there be one. A little
371
00:23:36.359 --> 00:23:39.720
aid is thus given in keeping the stem secure. If
372
00:23:39.720 --> 00:23:42.920
the tendril seizes nothing, it does not contract spirally, but
373
00:23:43.039 --> 00:23:46.920
soon withers away and drops off. If it seizes an object,
374
00:23:47.000 --> 00:23:51.160
all the branches contract spirally. I have stated that after
375
00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:53.680
a tendril has come into contact with a stick, it
376
00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:56.440
bends round it in about half an hour. But I
377
00:23:56.519 --> 00:23:59.680
repeatedly observed, as in the case of the speciosa and
378
00:23:59.720 --> 00:24:03.559
its allies, that it often again loosed the stick, sometimes
379
00:24:03.559 --> 00:24:06.400
seizing and losing the same stick three or four times.
380
00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:09.799
Knowing that the tendrils avoided the light, I gave them
381
00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:13.640
a glass tube blackened within and a well blackened zinc plate.
382
00:24:14.279 --> 00:24:17.680
The branches curled round the tube and abruptly bent themselves
383
00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:20.119
round the edges of the zinc plate. But they soon
384
00:24:20.200 --> 00:24:24.079
recoiled from these objects with what I can only call disgust,
385
00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:28.680
and straightened themselves. I then placed a post with extremely
386
00:24:28.759 -->
00:24:31.839
rugged bark close to a pair of tendrils. Twice they
387
00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:34.799
touched it for an hour or two, and twice they withdrew.
388
00:24:35.279 --> 00:24:38.119
At last, one of the hooked extremities curled round and
389
00:24:38.279 --> 00:24:41.680
firmly seized an excessively minute projecting point of the bark,
390
00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:45.920
and the other branches spread themselves out, following with accuracy
391
00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:49.960
every inequality of the surface. I afterwards placed near the
392
00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:53.319
plant a post without bark, but much fissured, and the
393
00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:56.240
points of the tendrils crawled into all the crevices in
394
00:24:56.279 --> 00:24:59.559
a beautiful manner. To my surprise, I observed that the
395
00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:02.680
tips of the immature tendrils, with the branches not yet
396
00:25:02.680 --> 00:25:07.640
fully separated, likewise crawled just like roots into the minutest crevices.
397
00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:10.359
In two or three days, after the tips had thus
398
00:25:10.400 --> 00:25:13.559
crawled into the crevices, or after their hooked ends had
399
00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:18.119
seized minute points, the final process now to be described commenced.
400
00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:22.279
This process I discovered by having accidentally left a piece
401
00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:25.519
of wool near a tendril, and this led me to
402
00:25:25.559 --> 00:25:30.079
bind a quantity of flax, moss and wool loosely round sticks,
403
00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:33.559
and to place them near tendrils. The wool must not
404
00:25:33.640 --> 00:25:37.519
be dyed, for these tendrils are excessively sensitive to some poisons.
405
00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:41.039
The hooked points soon caught hold of the fibers, even
406
00:25:41.119 --> 00:25:45.640
loosely floating fibers, and now there was no recoiling. On
407
00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:48.920
the contrary, the excitement caused the hooks to penetrate the
408
00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:52.440
fibrous mass and to curl inwards, so that each hook
409
00:25:52.519 --> 00:25:55.480
firmly caught one or two fibers, or a small bundle
410
00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:58.279
of them. The tips and the inner surfaces of the
411
00:25:58.279 --> 00:26:00.880
hooks now began to swell, and in two or three
412
00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:04.400
days were visibly enlarged. After a few more days, the
413
00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:08.599
hooks were converted into whitish, irregular balls rather above the
414
00:26:08.720 --> 00:26:11.880
zero point zero fifth of an inch one point two
415
00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:16.720
seven millimeters in diameter, formed of coarse cellular tissue, which
416
00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:21.720
sometimes wholly enveloped and concealed the hooks themselves. The surfaces
417
00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:25.680
of these balls secreted some vicid resinous matter to which
418
00:26:25.720 --> 00:26:29.279
the fibers of the flax et cetera adhere. When a
419
00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:33.039
fiber has become fastened to the surface, the cellular tissue
420
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:36.079
does not grow directly beneath it, but continues to grow
421
00:26:36.160 --> 00:26:40.119
closely on each side, so that when several adjoining fibers,
422
00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:44.319
though excessively thin, were caught, so many crests of cellular matter,
423
00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:47.599
each not as thick as a human hair, grew up
424
00:26:47.640 --> 00:26:51.200
between them, and these, arching over on both sides, adhered
425
00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:54.960
firmly together. As the whole surface of the ball continues
426
00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:58.960
to grow, fresh fibers adhere and are afterwards enveloped, so
427
00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:01.720
that I have seen a little ball with between fifty
428
00:27:01.759 --> 00:27:05.559
and sixty fibers of flax crossing it at various angles,
429
00:27:05.720 --> 00:27:09.799
and all embedded more or less deeply. Every gradation in
430
00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:13.559
the process could be followed, some fibers merely sticking to
431
00:27:13.640 --> 00:27:16.599
the surface, others lying in more or less deep furrows,
432
00:27:16.680 --> 00:27:19.720
or deeply embedded, or passing through the very center of
433
00:27:19.799 --> 00:27:23.799
the circular ball. The embedded fibers are so closely clasped
434
00:27:23.799 --> 00:27:27.279
that they cannot be withdrawn. The outgrowing tissue has so
435
00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:31.000
strong a tendency to unite, that two balls produced by
436
00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:35.039
distinct tendrils sometimes unite and grow into a single one.
437
00:27:35.839 --> 00:27:38.519
On one occasion, when a tendril had curled round a
438
00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:42.119
stick half an ancient diameter, an adhesive disc was formed,
439
00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:44.720
but this does not generally occur in the case of
440
00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:48.519
smooth sticks or posts. If, however, the tip catches eate
441
00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:52.799
minute projecting point, the other branches formed discs, especially if
442
00:27:52.839 --> 00:27:56.720
they find crevices to crawl into. The tendrils failed to
443
00:27:56.759 --> 00:28:00.200
attach themselves to a brick wall. I infer from the
444
00:28:00.240 --> 00:28:02.680
adherents of the fibers to the discs or balls that
445
00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:07.039
these secrete some resinous adhesive matter, and more especially from
446
00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:11.279
such fibers becoming loose if immersed in sulfuric ether. This
447
00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:15.599
fluid likewise removes a small brown glistening points which can
448
00:28:15.839 --> 00:28:19.119
generally be seen on the surfaces of the older discs.
449
00:28:19.400 --> 00:28:23.559
If the hooked extremities of the tendrils do not touch anything, discs,
450
00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:26.079
as far as I have seen, are never formed, but
451
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:30.559
temporary contact during a moderate time suffices to cause their development.
452
00:28:31.279 --> 00:28:34.039
I have seen eight disks formed on the same tendril.
453
00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:38.279
After their development, the tendrils contract spirally and become woody
454
00:28:38.319 --> 00:28:42.119
and very strong. A tendril in this state supported nearly
455
00:28:42.200 --> 00:28:46.519
seven ounces, and would apparently have supported a considerably greater
456
00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:49.200
weight had not the fibers of flax to which the
457
00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:53.880
discs were attached yielded. From the facts now given, we
458
00:28:54.000 --> 00:28:57.279
may infer that though the tendrils of this Bognonia can
459
00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:01.079
occasionally adhere to smooth cylindrical sticks, and often to rug
460
00:29:01.119 --> 00:29:04.920
and bark, yet they are specially adapted to climb trees
461
00:29:05.160 --> 00:29:09.200
clothed with lichens, mosses, or other such productions. And I
462
00:29:09.240 --> 00:29:14.640
hear from Professor Asa Gray that the Polypodium incannum abounds
463
00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:17.440
on the forest trees in the districts of North America
464
00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:21.599
where this species of Bignonia grows. Finally, I may remark
465
00:29:21.880 --> 00:29:24.359
how singular a fact it is that a leaf should
466
00:29:24.359 --> 00:29:28.279
be metamorphosed into a branched organ which turns from the light,
467
00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:31.400
and which can, by its extremities, either crawl like roots
468
00:29:31.440 --> 00:29:35.559
into crevices or seize hold of minute projecting points. These
469
00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:40.880
extremities afterwards forming cellular outgrowths, which crete an adhesive cement,
470
00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:45.200
and then envelop by their continued growth. The finest fibers
471
00:29:46.799 --> 00:29:52.559
A Cremocarpus scaber. Big Nonacia plants, though growing pretty well
472
00:29:52.640 --> 00:29:56.039
in my greenhouse, showed no spontaneous movement in their shoots
473
00:29:56.079 --> 00:29:59.240
or tendrils, but when removed to the hot house, the
474
00:29:59.359 --> 00:30:02.759
young intern revolved at rates varying from three hours fifteen
475
00:30:02.839 --> 00:30:06.480
minutes to one hour thirteen minutes. One large circle was
476
00:30:06.519 --> 00:30:10.240
swept at this latter unusually thick rate, but generally the
477
00:30:10.279 --> 00:30:13.880
circles or ellipses were small, and sometimes the course pursued
478
00:30:13.960 --> 00:30:18.640
was quite irregular. An internode, after making several revolutions, sometimes
479
00:30:18.680 --> 00:30:22.160
stood still for twelve hours or eighteen hours, and then
480
00:30:22.279 --> 00:30:26.759
recommenced revolving. Such strongly marked interruption in the movements of
481
00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:29.880
the internodes I have observed in hardly any other plant.
482
00:30:30.359 --> 00:30:35.480
The leaves bear four leaflets, themselves subdivided and terminate in
483
00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:39.640
much branched tandrils. The main petule of the leaf, whilst young,
484
00:30:39.880 --> 00:30:44.240
moves spontaneously and follows nearly the same irregular course and
485
00:30:44.599 --> 00:30:48.279
at above the same rate as the internodes. The movement
486
00:30:48.440 --> 00:30:51.319
to and from the stem is the most conspicuous, and
487
00:30:51.400 --> 00:30:53.640
I have seen the cord of a curved petule which
488
00:30:53.720 --> 00:30:56.000
formed at an angle of fifty nine degrees, with the
489
00:30:56.039 --> 00:30:58.839
stem in an hour afterwards make an angle of one
490
00:30:58.920 --> 00:31:02.519
hundred and six degrees. The two opposite pedules do not
491
00:31:02.599 --> 00:31:05.319
move together, and one is sometimes so much raised as
492
00:31:05.359 --> 00:31:08.079
to stand close to the stem, whilst the other is
493
00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:11.680
not far from horizontal. The basal part of the petule
494
00:31:11.799 --> 00:31:15.279
moves less than the distal part. The tendrils, besides being
495
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:20.039
carried by the moving petioles and internodes them spelves move spontaneously,
496
00:31:20.359 --> 00:31:24.200
and the opposite tendrils occasionally move in opposite directions. By
497
00:31:24.279 --> 00:31:27.920
these combined movements of the young internodes, petioles, and tendrils,
498
00:31:27.960 --> 00:31:30.720
a considerable space is swept in search of a support.
499
00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:34.960
In young plants, the tendrils are about three inches in length.
500
00:31:35.359 --> 00:31:38.319
They bear two lateral and two terminal branches, and each
501
00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:42.559
branch bifurcates twice, with the tips terminating in blunt double hooks,
502
00:31:42.599 --> 00:31:46.079
having both points directed to the same side. All the
503
00:31:46.119 --> 00:31:49.519
branches are sensitive on all sides, and after being lightly
504
00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:52.599
rubbed or after coming into contact with a stick, bend
505
00:31:52.680 --> 00:31:55.680
in about ten minutes. One which had become curved in
506
00:31:55.720 --> 00:31:58.839
ten minutes after a light rub, continued bending for between
507
00:31:58.880 --> 00:32:01.799
three hours and four hour, and became straight again in
508
00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:05.279
eight hours or nine hours. Tendrils which have caught nothing
509
00:32:05.359 --> 00:32:09.119
ultimately contract into an irregular spire, as they likewise do,
510
00:32:09.240 --> 00:32:13.440
only much more quickly after clasping a support. In both cases,
511
00:32:13.480 --> 00:32:16.480
the main petule bearing be leafless, which is at first
512
00:32:16.519 --> 00:32:19.920
strate and inclined a little upwards, moves downwards, with the
513
00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:23.240
middle part bent abruptly into a right angle. But this
514
00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:27.920
is seen in Emnitis more plainly than in e. Scabber.
515
00:32:28.839 --> 00:32:31.680
The tendrils in this genus act in some respects like
516
00:32:31.720 --> 00:32:35.240
those of Ignonia capriolata, but the whole does not move
517
00:32:35.240 --> 00:32:38.319
from the light, nor do the hooked tips become enlarged
518
00:32:38.359 --> 00:32:42.319
into circular discs. After the tendrils have come into contact
519
00:32:42.359 --> 00:32:45.319
with a moderately thick cylindrical stick or with rugged bark,
520
00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:48.960
the several branches may be seen slowly to lift themselves up,
521
00:32:49.279 --> 00:32:52.160
changing their positions, and again come into contact with the
522
00:32:52.200 --> 00:32:56.240
supporting surface. The object of these movements is to bring
523
00:32:56.240 --> 00:32:58.599
the double hooks at the extremity of the branches, which
524
00:32:58.680 --> 00:33:02.119
naturally face in all directions, into contact with the wood.
525
00:33:02.880 --> 00:33:05.279
I have watched the tendril half of which had bent
526
00:33:05.400 --> 00:33:08.440
itself at right angles round the sharp corner of a
527
00:33:08.480 --> 00:33:12.480
square post, neatly bring every single hook into contact with
528
00:33:12.599 --> 00:33:17.319
both rectangular surfaces. The appearance suggested the belief that though
529
00:33:17.359 --> 00:33:20.359
the whole tendril is not sensitive to light, yet that
530
00:33:20.440 --> 00:33:23.119
the tips are so, and that they turn and twist
531
00:33:23.160 --> 00:33:27.920
themselves towards any dark surface. Ultimately, the branches arrange themselves
532
00:33:28.039 --> 00:33:31.200
very neatly into all the irregularities of the most rugged bark,
533
00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:34.039
so that they resemble in their irregular course a river
534
00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:37.400
with its branches as engraved on a map. But when
535
00:33:37.400 --> 00:33:41.559
its tendril has wound round a rather thick stick, the
536
00:33:41.599 --> 00:33:45.880
subsequent spiral contraction generally draws it away and spoils the
537
00:33:45.960 --> 00:33:49.680
neat arrangement. So it is, but not in quite so
538
00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:52.920
marked a manner. When a tendril has spread itself over
539
00:33:52.960 --> 00:33:56.599
a large, nearly flat surface of rugged bark, we may
540
00:33:56.640 --> 00:34:00.000
therefore conclude that these tendrils are not perfectly adapted to
541
00:34:00.160 --> 00:34:04.160
seize moderately thick sticks or rugged barb. If a thin
542
00:34:04.279 --> 00:34:07.400
stick or twig is placed near a tendril, the terminal
543
00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:10.920
branches wind quite round it and then sees their own
544
00:34:10.960 --> 00:34:14.039
lower branches or the main stand. The stick is thus
545
00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:17.800
firmly but not neatly grasped. What the tendrils are really
546
00:34:17.840 --> 00:34:20.599
adapted for appears to
be such objects as the thin
547
00:34:20.760 --> 00:34:24.119
culumns of certain grasses, or the long, flexible bristles of
548
00:34:24.119 --> 00:34:26.800
a brush, or thin, rigid leaves such as those of
549
00:34:26.800 --> 00:34:30.559
the asparagus, all of which they sees in an admirable manner.
550
00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:33.920
This is due to the extremities of the branches close
551
00:34:33.960 --> 00:34:36.840
to the little hooks being extremely sensitive to a touch
552
00:34:36.880 --> 00:34:41.079
from the thinnest object, which they consequently curl round and clasp.
553
00:34:41.800 --> 00:34:44.960
When a small brush, for instance, was placed near a tendril,
554
00:34:45.000 --> 00:34:48.199
the tips of each sub branch seized one, two or
555
00:34:48.239 --> 00:34:51.519
three of the bristles, and then the spiral contraction of
556
00:34:51.559 --> 00:34:54.920
the several branches brought all these little parcels close together,
557
00:34:55.320 --> 00:34:58.159
so that thirty or forty bristles were drawn into a
558
00:34:58.159 --> 00:35:05.760
single bundle, which afforded an excellent support. Pulmonacea corborascandons this
559
00:35:05.920 --> 00:35:09.679
is an excellently constructed climber. The tendrils on a fine
560
00:35:09.719 --> 00:35:12.599
plant were eleven inches long, with a petial bearing two
561
00:35:12.599 --> 00:35:15.679
pairs of leaflets only two and a half inches in length.
562
00:35:16.199 --> 00:35:19.000
They revolve more rapidly and more vigorously than those of
563
00:35:19.039 --> 00:35:22.079
any other tendril bearer observed by me, With the exception
564
00:35:22.159 --> 00:35:26.679
of one kind of passiflora, three large nearly circular sweeps
565
00:35:26.719 --> 00:35:29.679
directed against the sun were completed each in one hour
566
00:35:29.760 --> 00:35:33.199
fifteen minutes, and to other circles in one hour twenty
567
00:35:33.239 --> 00:35:37.159
minutes and one hour twenty three minutes. Sometimes a tendril
568
00:35:37.199 --> 00:35:40.519
travels in a much inclined position, and sometimes nearly upright.
569
00:35:41.119 --> 00:35:43.760
The lower part moves but little, and the petule not
570
00:35:43.880 --> 00:35:46.840
at all, Nor do the internodes revolve, so that here
571
00:35:46.920 --> 00:35:50.800
we have the tendril alone moving. On the other hand,
572
00:35:50.920 --> 00:35:55.920
with most of the species of Bignonia and Ecromocarpus, the internodes, tendrils,
573
00:35:55.920 --> 00:36:00.360
and petioles all revolved. The long, straight, tapering mains stem
574
00:36:00.400 --> 00:36:04.000
of the tendril of the Koboi bears alternate branches, and
575
00:36:04.119 --> 00:36:07.760
each branch is several times divided, with the finer branches
576
00:36:07.800 --> 00:36:11.719
as thin as very thin bristles and extremely flexible, so
577
00:36:11.760 --> 00:36:14.000
that they are blown about by a breath of air.
578
00:36:14.599 --> 00:36:18.000
Yet they are strong and highly
elastic. The extremity of
579
00:36:18.039 --> 00:36:20.719
each branch is a little flattened and terminates in a
580
00:36:20.760 --> 00:36:24.519
minute double though sometimes single hook formed of a hard
581
00:36:24.559 --> 00:36:28.480
translucent woody substance, and as sharp as the finest needle
582
00:36:29.159 --> 00:36:32.079
on a tendril which was eleven inches long. I counted
583
00:36:32.199 --> 00:36:36.320
ninety four of these beautifully constructed little hooks. They readily
584
00:36:36.400 --> 00:36:38.880
catch soft wood or gloves, or the skin of the
585
00:36:39.000 --> 00:36:42.480
naked hand. With the exception of these hardened hooks and
586
00:36:42.599 --> 00:36:45.400
of the basal part of the central stem, every part
587
00:36:45.480 --> 00:36:48.599
of each branchlet is highly sensitive on all sides to
588
00:36:48.679 --> 00:36:51.760
a slight touch, and bends in a few minutes towards
589
00:36:51.760 --> 00:36:55.639
the touch side by lightly rubbing several sub branches on
590
00:36:55.679 --> 00:37:00.840
opposite sides. The whole tendril rapidly assumed an extraordinarily shape.
591
00:37:01.039 --> 00:37:04.480
These movements from contact do not interfere with the ordinary
592
00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:08.960
revolving movement. The branches, after becoming greatly curved from being touched,
593
00:37:09.199 --> 00:37:12.519
straighten themselves at a quicker rate than in almost any
594
00:37:12.559 --> 00:37:15.719
other tendril seen by me, namely in about half an
595
00:37:15.760 --> 00:37:19.920
hour and an hour after the tendril has caught any object.
596
00:37:20.000 --> 00:37:24.400
Spiral contraction likewise begins after an unusually short period of time,
597
00:37:24.800 --> 00:37:28.719
namely in about twelve hours before the tendril is mature,
598
00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:33.320
the terminal branchlets cohere and the hooks are curled closely inwards.
599
00:37:33.719 --> 00:37:36.360
At this point no part is sensitive to a touch,
600
00:37:36.599 --> 00:37:39.079
but as soon as the branches diverge and the hooks
601
00:37:39.079 --> 00:37:43.360
stand out, full sensitiveness is acquired. It is a singular
602
00:37:43.400 --> 00:37:47.719
circumstance that immature tendrils revolve at their full velocity before
603
00:37:47.719 --> 00:37:51.559
they become sensitive, but in a useless manner, as in
604
00:37:51.599 --> 00:37:56.079
this state they can catch nothing. This want of perfect coadaptation,
605
00:37:56.559 --> 00:37:59.159
though only for a short time between the structure and
606
00:37:59.199 --> 00:38:01.599
the function of a climbing plant, is a rare event.
607
00:38:02.679 --> 00:38:05.000
A tendril, as soon as it is ready to act,
608
00:38:05.079 --> 00:38:09.760
stands together with the supporting petiole, vertically upwards. The leaflets
609
00:38:09.800 --> 00:38:12.639
borne by the petiole are at this time quite small,
610
00:38:12.880 --> 00:38:15.079
and the extremity of the growing stem is bent to
611
00:38:15.199 --> 00:38:17.239
one side so as to be out of the way
612
00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:21.320
of the revolving tendril, which sweeps large circles directly overhead.
613
00:38:21.920 --> 00:38:24.960
The tendrils thus revolve in a position well adapted for
614
00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:28.239
the catching of objects standing above, and by this means
615
00:38:28.280 --> 00:38:31.760
the ascent of the plant is favored. If no object
616
00:38:31.800 --> 00:38:34.599
is caught, the leaf with its tendril bends downward and
617
00:38:34.760 --> 00:38:39.079
ultimately assumes a horizontal position. An open space is thus
618
00:38:39.320 --> 00:38:42.760
left for the next succeeding and younger tendril to stand
619
00:38:42.920 --> 00:38:46.519
vertically upwards and to revolve freely. As soon as an
620
00:38:46.559 --> 00:38:50.239
old tendril bends downward, it loses all power of movement
621
00:38:50.559 --> 00:38:54.880
and contracts spirally into an entangled mass. Although the tendrils
622
00:38:54.920 --> 00:38:58.480
revolve with unusual rapidity, the movement lasts for only a
623
00:38:58.519 --> 00:39:01.760
short time. In a plant placed in the hothouse and
624
00:39:01.800 --> 00:39:05.840
growing vigorously, a tendril revolve for not longer than thirty
625
00:39:05.880 --> 00:39:09.519
six hours, counting from the period when it first became sensitive,
626
00:39:10.079 --> 00:39:13.199
But during this period it probably made at least twenty
627
00:39:13.239 --> 00:39:17.840
seven revolutions. When a revolving tendril strikes against a stick,
628
00:39:17.920 --> 00:39:21.159
the branches quickly bend round and clasp it. The little
629
00:39:21.199 --> 00:39:24.280
hooks here play an important part, as they prevent the
630
00:39:24.280 --> 00:39:27.519
branches from being dragged away by the rapid revolving movement
631
00:39:27.800 --> 00:39:31.039
before they have had time to clasp the sticks curely.
632
00:39:31.760 --> 00:39:34.480
This is especially the case when only the extremity of
633
00:39:34.519 --> 00:39:37.400
a branch has caught hold of a support. As soon
634
00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:40.639
as a tendril has bend a smooth stick or a
635
00:39:40.719 --> 00:39:45.119
thick rugged post or has come into contact with planed wood,
636
00:39:45.400 --> 00:39:48.360
for it can adhere temporarily, even to so smooth a
637
00:39:48.440 --> 00:39:52.480
surface as this. The same peculiar movements may be observed
638
00:39:52.519 --> 00:39:57.840
as those described under Bignonia capriolata and a creamocarpas the
639
00:39:57.880 --> 00:40:01.920
branches repeatedly lift themselves up and down, those which have
640
00:40:02.440 --> 00:40:06.360
their hooks already directed downwards, remaining in this position and
641
00:40:06.440 --> 00:40:09.880
securing the tendril, whilst the others twist about until they
642
00:40:09.920 --> 00:40:14.039
succeed in arranging themselves in conformity with every irregularity of
643
00:40:14.079 --> 00:40:17.360
the surface, and in bringing their hooks into contact with
644
00:40:17.400 --> 00:40:20.320
the wood. The use of the hooks was well shown
645
00:40:20.440 --> 00:40:23.719
by giving the tendrils tubes and slips of glass to catch,
646
00:40:24.159 --> 00:40:28.239
for these, though temporarily seased, were invariably lost, either during
647
00:40:28.239 --> 00:40:32.280
the rearrangement of the branches or ultimately when spiral contraction ensued.
648
00:40:33.400 --> 00:40:36.679
The perfect manner in which the branches arrange themselves, creeping
649
00:40:36.760 --> 00:40:39.840
like rootlets over every inequality of the surface and into
650
00:40:39.960 --> 00:40:43.199
any deep crevice, is a pretty sight, for it is
651
00:40:43.280 --> 00:40:47.400
perhaps more effectively performed by this than by any other species.
652
00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:51.519
The action is certainly more conspicuous, as the upper surfaces
653
00:40:51.559 --> 00:40:54.239
of the main stem, as well as of every branch
654
00:40:54.320 --> 00:40:57.880
to the extreme hooks, are angular and green, whilst the
655
00:40:57.920 --> 00:41:01.800
lower surfaces are rounded and purple. I was led to infer,
656
00:41:01.920 --> 00:41:05.199
as in former cases, that a less amount of light
657
00:41:05.280 --> 00:41:08.400
guided these movements of the branches of the tendrils. I
658
00:41:08.480 --> 00:41:11.599
made many trials with black and white cards and glass
659
00:41:11.639 --> 00:41:15.119
tubes to prove it, but failed from various causes. Yet
660
00:41:15.159 --> 00:41:19.400
these trials countenanced the belief. As a tendril consists of
661
00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:22.679
the leafs split into numerous segments, there is nothing surprising
662
00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:26.559
in all that the segments turning their proper surfaces towards
663
00:41:26.559 --> 00:41:28.639
the light as soon as the tendril is caught and
664
00:41:28.679 --> 00:41:32.400
the revolving movement is arrested. But this will not account
665
00:41:32.440 --> 00:41:35.519
for the whole movement, for the segments actually bend or
666
00:41:35.599 --> 00:41:38.559
curve to the dark side, besides turning round on their
667
00:41:38.599 --> 00:41:41.599
axis so that their upper surfaces may face the light.
668
00:41:42.480 --> 00:41:46.119
When koboe grows in the open air, the wind must
669
00:41:46.159 --> 00:41:49.920
aid the extremely flexible tendrils. In seizing a support for
670
00:41:50.039 --> 00:41:53.159
I found that a mere breath sufficed to cause the
671
00:41:53.199 --> 00:41:56.480
extreme branches to catch hold by their hooks of twigs
672
00:41:56.760 --> 00:41:59.480
which they could not have reached by the revolving movement.
673
00:42:00.440 --> 00:42:03.039
It might have been taught that a tendril thus hooked
674
00:42:03.039 --> 00:42:05.639
by the extremity of a single branch could not have
675
00:42:05.760 --> 00:42:09.679
fairly grasped its support. But several times I watched cases
676
00:42:09.760 --> 00:42:13.320
like the following tendril caught a thin stick by the
677
00:42:13.360 --> 00:42:17.360
hooks of one of its two extreme branches. Though thus
678
00:42:17.400 --> 00:42:20.840
held by the tip, it still tried to revolve, bowing
679
00:42:20.920 --> 00:42:23.960
itself to all sides, and by this movement to the
680
00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:28.159
other extreme branch soon caught the stick. The first branch
681
00:42:28.199 --> 00:42:31.880
then loosed itself and arranging its hook again, caught hold.
682
00:42:32.599 --> 00:42:35.280
After a time, from the continued movement of the tendril,
683
00:42:35.519 --> 00:42:38.599
the hooks of a third branch caught hold. No other
684
00:42:38.639 --> 00:42:41.920
branches as the tendril then stood, could possibly have touched
685
00:42:41.920 --> 00:42:44.840
the stick. But before long the upper part of the
686
00:42:44.840 --> 00:42:48.679
main stem began to contract into an open spire. It
687
00:42:48.760 --> 00:42:52.039
thus dragged the chute which bore the tendril, towards the stick,
688
00:42:52.360 --> 00:42:56.119
and as the tendril continually tried to revolve, a fourth
689
00:42:56.119 --> 00:43:01.440
branch was brought into contact, and lastly from the spiral contraction,
690
00:43:01.639 --> 00:43:04.639
traveling down both of the main stem and the branches.
691
00:43:05.079 --> 00:43:08.480
All of them, one after another, were ultimately brought into
692
00:43:08.559 --> 00:43:12.199
contact with the stick. They then wound themselves round it
693
00:43:12.320 --> 00:43:16.480
and round one another, until the whole tendril was tied
694
00:43:16.599 --> 00:43:22.119
together in inextricable knot. The tendrils, though at first quite flexible,
695
00:43:22.599 --> 00:43:25.440
after having clasped a support for a time, become more
696
00:43:25.519 --> 00:43:28.719
rigid and stronger than they were at first. Thus the
697
00:43:28.760 --> 00:43:31.800
plant is secured to its support in a perfect manner.
698
00:43:33.440 --> 00:43:38.599
Leguminosae pisum setabum, the common p was the subject of
699
00:43:38.719 --> 00:43:42.559
a valuable memoir by Dutrecia, who discovered that the internodes
700
00:43:42.559 --> 00:43:46.719
and tendrils revolve in ellipses. The ellipses are generally very narrow,
701
00:43:46.760 --> 00:43:50.960
but sometimes approached to circles. I several times observed that
702
00:43:51.039 --> 00:43:54.880
the longer axis slowly changed its direction, which is of importance,
703
00:43:54.960 --> 00:43:58.639
as the tendril thus sweeps a wider space. Owing to
704
00:43:58.679 --> 00:44:01.519
this change of direction, and likewise to the movement of
705
00:44:01.519 --> 00:44:05.400
the stem towards the light, the successive irregular ellipses generally
706
00:44:05.440 --> 00:44:09.000
form an irregular spire. I have thought it worthwhile to
707
00:44:09.000 --> 00:44:12.400
annex a tracing of the course
pursued by the upper internode,
708
00:44:12.559 --> 00:44:15.960
the movement of the tendril being neglected of a small plant.
709
00:44:16.079 --> 00:44:21.000
From eight forty am to nine fifteen pm. The course
710
00:44:21.119 --> 00:44:24.159
was traced on a hemispherical glass placed over the plant,
711
00:44:24.239 --> 00:44:27.800
and the dots with figures give the hours of the observation,
712
00:44:28.320 --> 00:44:32.000
each dot being joined by a straight line. No doubt,
713
00:44:32.119 --> 00:44:35.079
all the lines would have been curvelinear if the course
714
00:44:35.119 --> 00:44:39.239
had been observed at much shorter intervals. The extremity of
715
00:44:39.239 --> 00:44:42.639
the petiole from which the young tendril arose was two
716
00:44:42.639 --> 00:44:45.039
inches from the glass, so that if a pencil two
717
00:44:45.079 --> 00:44:47.360
inches in length could have been affixed to the petiole,
718
00:44:47.679 --> 00:44:50.400
it would have traced the annexed figure on the underside
719
00:44:50.400 --> 00:44:52.679
of the glass. But it must be remembered that the
720
00:44:52.679 --> 00:44:56.480
figure is reduced by one half neglecting the first great
721
00:44:56.519 --> 00:44:59.760
sweep towards the light from the figure one to two.
722
00:45:00.239 --> 00:45:03.079
The end of the petule swept a graceful four inches
723
00:45:03.079 --> 00:45:06.599
across in one direction and three inches in another. As
724
00:45:06.639 --> 00:45:09.920
a full grown tendril is considerably above two inches in length,
725
00:45:09.960 --> 00:45:13.039
and as the tendril itself bends and revolves in harmony
726
00:45:13.360 --> 00:45:16.559
with the internode, a considerably wider space is swept than
727
00:45:16.639 --> 00:45:21.159
is here represented on a reduced scale. Detrocie observed the
728
00:45:21.280 --> 00:45:24.360
completion of an ellipse in one hour twenty minutes. I
729
00:45:24.440 --> 00:45:27.599
saw one completed in one hour thirty minutes. The direction
730
00:45:27.760 --> 00:45:31.199
followed is variable either with or against the sun. D
731
00:45:31.360 --> 00:45:35.000
Trocie asserts that the petioles of the leafs spontaneously revolve,
732
00:45:35.079 --> 00:45:38.039
as well as the young internodes and tendrils, but he
733
00:45:38.119 --> 00:45:41.119
does not say that he secured the internodes, which when
734
00:45:41.159 --> 00:45:43.960
this was done, I could never detect any movement in
735
00:45:43.960 --> 00:45:48.039
the petiole except to and from the light. The tendrils,
736
00:45:48.159 --> 00:45:51.199
on the other hand, when the internodes and petioles are secured,
737
00:45:51.440 --> 00:45:55.639
describe irregular spires or regular ellipses exactly like those made
738
00:45:55.679 --> 00:45:59.039
by the internodes. A young tendril only one one eighth
739
00:45:59.119 --> 00:46:02.559
of an inch in length revolved. Dutrochet has shown that
740
00:46:02.599 --> 00:46:04.480
when a plant is
placed in a room so that
741
00:46:04.559 --> 00:46:08.000
the light enters laterally, the internodes travel much quicker to
742
00:46:08.000 --> 00:46:10.719
the light than from it. On the other hand, he
743
00:46:10.760 --> 00:46:13.920
asserts that the tendril itself moves from the lights towards
744
00:46:13.960 --> 00:46:16.800
the dark side of the room. With due deference to
745
00:46:16.840 --> 00:46:19.920
this great observer. I think he was mistaken owing to
746
00:46:19.960 --> 00:46:23.280
his not having secured the internodes. I took a young
747
00:46:23.360 --> 00:46:26.679
plant with highly sensitive tendrils and tied the petiole so
748
00:46:26.719 --> 00:46:29.679
that the tendril alone could move. It completed a perfect
749
00:46:29.719 --> 00:46:32.519
ellipse in one hour thirty minutes. I then turned the
750
00:46:32.559 --> 00:46:35.519
plant partly round, but this made no change in the
751
00:46:35.519 --> 00:46:39.039
direction of the succeeding ellipse. The next day I walked
752
00:46:39.079 --> 00:46:42.920
a plant similarly secured until the tendril, which was highly sensitive,
753
00:46:43.000 --> 00:46:45.440
making the lips in a line exactly to and from
754
00:46:45.480 --> 00:46:48.440
the light. The movement was so great that the tendril
755
00:46:48.480 --> 00:46:51.519
at the two ends of its elliptrical course bent itself
756
00:46:51.559 --> 00:46:55.199
a little beneath the horizon, thus traveling more than one
757
00:46:55.239 --> 00:46:59.320
hundred eighty degrees. But the curvature was fully as great
758
00:46:59.400 --> 00:47:01.719
towards the life light as towards the dark side of
759
00:47:01.760 --> 00:47:05.960
the rope. I believe Deutroche was misled by not having
760
00:47:05.960 --> 00:47:09.159
secured the internodes, and by having observed the plant of
761
00:47:09.199 --> 00:47:12.679
which the internodes and tendrils no longer curved in harmony
762
00:47:12.679 --> 00:47:17.960
together owing to inequality of age. Ditoche made no observation
763
00:47:18.239 --> 00:47:21.719
on the sensitiveness of the tendrils. These, whilst young and
764
00:47:21.760 --> 00:47:24.239
about an ancient length with the leaflets on the petio
765
00:47:24.360 --> 00:47:28.639
only partially expanded, are highly sensitive. A single light touch
766
00:47:28.679 --> 00:47:31.440
with a twig on the inferior or concave surface near
767
00:47:31.480 --> 00:47:34.920
the tip caused them to bend quickly, as did occasionally
768
00:47:34.960 --> 00:47:37.760
a loop of thread weighing one seventh of a grain
769
00:47:38.159 --> 00:47:42.199
nine point twenty five milligrams. The upper convex surface is
770
00:47:42.199 --> 00:47:46.199
barely or not at all sensitive. Tendrils, after bending from
771
00:47:46.199 --> 00:47:49.239
a touch, straightened themselves in about two hours and are
772
00:47:49.280 --> 00:47:52.480
then ready to act again. As soon as they began
773
00:47:52.559 --> 00:47:55.079
to grow old. The extremities of their two or three
774
00:47:55.119 --> 00:47:58.119
pairs of branches become hooked, and they then appear to
775
00:47:58.119 --> 00:48:01.679
form an excellent grappling instrument. But this is not the case,
776
00:48:02.159 --> 00:48:05.960
for at this period they have generally quite lost their sensitiveness,
777
00:48:06.199 --> 00:48:09.360
and when hooked onto twigs, some were not at all affected,
778
00:48:09.639 --> 00:48:12.760
and others required from eighteen hours to twenty four hours
779
00:48:12.880 --> 00:48:17.360
before clasping such twigs. Nevertheless, they were unable to utilize
780
00:48:17.480 --> 00:48:23.320
this last vestige of irritability owing to their extremities being hooked. Ultimately,
781
00:48:23.400 --> 00:48:27.000
their lateral branches contract spirally, but not the middle or
782
00:48:27.039 --> 00:48:33.599
main stem. Athirus afhaca. This plant is destitute of leaves
783
00:48:33.639 --> 00:48:37.920
except during a very early age, these being replaced by tendrils,
784
00:48:38.000 --> 00:48:42.079
and the leaves themselves by large stipules. It might therefore
785
00:48:42.079 --> 00:48:45.679
have been expected that the tendrils would have been highly organized,
786
00:48:45.880 --> 00:48:49.039
but this is not so. They are moderately long, thin,
787
00:48:49.199 --> 00:48:53.039
and unbranched, with their tips slightly curved. Whilst young, they
788
00:48:53.079 --> 00:48:56.199
are sensitive on all sides, but chiefly on the concave
789
00:48:56.320 --> 00:49:00.639
side of the extremity. They have no spontaneous revolving, but
790
00:49:00.840 --> 00:49:03.599
are at first inclined upwards at an angle of about
791
00:49:03.639 --> 00:49:07.599
forty five degrees, then move into a horizontal position and
792
00:49:07.719 --> 00:49:11.760
ultimately bend downwards. The young internodes, on the other hand,
793
00:49:11.880 --> 00:49:15.639
revolve in ellipses and carry with them the tendrils. Two
794
00:49:15.719 --> 00:49:19.639
ellipses were completed each and nearly five hours. Their longer
795
00:49:19.679 --> 00:49:22.880
axes were directed at about an angle of forty five
796
00:49:22.960 --> 00:49:28.599
degrees to the axis of the previously made ellipse. Latharus grendiflorus.
797
00:49:29.199 --> 00:49:33.239
The plants observed were young and not growing vigorously yet sufficiently,
798
00:49:33.320 --> 00:49:36.840
so I think for my observations to be trusted. If so,
799
00:49:37.000 --> 00:49:40.480
we have the rare case of neither internodes nor tendrils revolving.
800
00:49:41.119 --> 00:49:43.880
The tendrils of vigorous plants are above four inches in
801
00:49:43.960 --> 00:49:47.519
length and are often twice divided into three branches. The
802
00:49:47.559 --> 00:49:50.679
tips are curved and are sensitive on their concave sides.
803
00:49:51.039 --> 00:49:53.719
The lower part of the central stem is hardly sensitive
804
00:49:53.760 --> 00:49:56.800
at all. Hence, these
plants appear to climb simply by
805
00:49:56.800 --> 00:49:59.199
its tendrils being brought through the growth of the stem,
806
00:49:59.519 --> 00:50:03.000
or more f by the wind into contact with surrounding objects,
807
00:50:03.239 --> 00:50:06.480
which they then clasp. I may add that the tendrils
808
00:50:06.559 --> 00:50:11.920
or the internodes, or both of Visia satvia revolve Compostia
809
00:50:12.159 --> 00:50:17.920
Mutisia calmatis. The immense family of the Compositae, is well
810
00:50:18.039 --> 00:50:21.480
known to include very few climbing plants. We have seen
811
00:50:21.559 --> 00:50:24.679
in the table in the first chapter that Meccania scandons
812
00:50:24.800 --> 00:50:27.679
is a regular twiner, and F. Muller informs me that
813
00:50:27.840 --> 00:50:30.920
in South Brazil there is another species which is a
814
00:50:31.000 --> 00:50:34.400
leaf climber. Mutisia is the only genus in the family
815
00:50:34.519 --> 00:50:37.320
as far as I can learn, which bears tendrils. It
816
00:50:37.440 --> 00:50:40.800
is therefore interesting to find that these, though rather less
817
00:50:40.880 --> 00:50:45.960
metamorphosed from their primordial folier condition than are most other tendrils,
818
00:50:46.400 --> 00:50:50.639
yet display all the ordinary characteristic movements, both those that
819
00:50:50.719 --> 00:50:54.760
are spontaneous and those which are excited by contact. The
820
00:50:54.880 --> 00:50:58.480
long leaf bears seven or eight alternate leaflets and terminates
821
00:50:58.559 --> 00:51:01.280
in a tendril, which, in a place of considerable size
822
00:51:01.440 --> 00:51:05.719
was five inches in length. It consists generally of three branches,
823
00:51:06.119 --> 00:51:10.800
and these, although much elongated, evidently represent the petioles and
824
00:51:10.920 --> 00:51:14.559
midribs of three leaflets, for they closely resemble the same
825
00:51:14.679 --> 00:51:17.760
parts in an ordinary leaf, in being rectangular on the
826
00:51:17.880 --> 00:51:22.800
upper surface, furrowed and edged with green. Moreover, the green
827
00:51:22.960 --> 00:51:26.159
edging of the tendrils of young plants sometimes expands into
828
00:51:26.199 --> 00:51:29.599
a narrow lamina or blade. Each branch is curved a
829
00:51:29.639 --> 00:51:33.320
little downwards and is slightly hooked at the extremity. A
830
00:51:33.440 --> 00:51:37.440
young upper internode revolved, judging from three revolutions at an
831
00:51:37.480 --> 00:51:40.559
average rate of one hour thirty eight minutes. Its swept
832
00:51:40.599 --> 00:51:43.840
ellipses with the longer axi is directed at right angles
833
00:51:43.880 --> 00:51:47.800
to one another, but the plant apparently cannot twine. The
834
00:51:47.920 --> 00:51:51.239
petioles and the tendrils are both in constant movement, but
835
00:51:51.360 --> 00:51:54.920
their movement is slower and much less regularly elliptical than
836
00:51:55.000 --> 00:51:58.320
that
of the internodes. They appear to be much affected
837
00:51:58.360 --> 00:52:00.960
by the light, for the whole leaf usually sinks down
838
00:52:01.079 --> 00:52:04.199
during the night and rises during the day, moving also
839
00:52:04.400 --> 00:52:06.679
during the day in a crooked course to the west.
840
00:52:07.400 --> 00:52:09.599
The tip of the tendril is highly sensitive on the
841
00:52:09.679 --> 00:52:12.360
lower surface, and one which was just touched with a
842
00:52:12.400 --> 00:52:15.719
twig became perceptibly curved in three minutes and another in
843
00:52:15.840 --> 00:52:19.639
five minutes. The upper surface is not at all sensitive.
844
00:52:20.119 --> 00:52:23.320
The sides are moderately sensitive, so that the two branches
845
00:52:23.440 --> 00:52:26.519
which were rubbed on their inner sides converged and crossed
846
00:52:26.559 --> 00:52:29.800
each other. The petrole of the leaf, and the lower
847
00:52:29.880 --> 00:52:33.079
parts of the tendril halfway between the upper leaflet and
848
00:52:33.159 --> 00:52:37.159
the lowest branch are not sensitive. A tendril, after curling
849
00:52:37.199 --> 00:52:39.920
from a touch became straight again in about six hours
850
00:52:40.000 --> 00:52:43.039
and was ready to react, but one that had been
851
00:52:43.239 --> 00:52:45.960
so roughly rubbed as to have coiled into a helix
852
00:52:46.360 --> 00:52:50.320
did not become perfectly straight until after thirteen hours. The
853
00:52:50.440 --> 00:52:54.599
tendrils retained their sensibility to an unusually bit age. For
854
00:52:54.760 --> 00:52:57.199
one born by a leaf with five or six fully
855
00:52:57.280 --> 00:53:01.599
developed leafs above was still active. If a tendril catches
856
00:53:01.679 --> 00:53:04.960
nothing After considerable interval of time. The tips of the
857
00:53:05.000 --> 00:53:08.840
branches curl a little inwards, but if it clasps some object,
858
00:53:08.960 --> 00:53:16.880
the whole contracts spirally. Simulaceae similax aspera variation Maculata august
859
00:53:17.199 --> 00:53:21.599
Saint Hilaire considers the tendrils which rise in pairs from
860
00:53:21.639 --> 00:53:26.239
the petiole are modified lateral leaflets, but mole page forty
861
00:53:26.280 --> 00:53:30.679
one ranks them as modified stipules. These tendrils are from
862
00:53:30.719 --> 00:53:32.719
one and a half to one of three fourths inches
863
00:53:32.760 --> 00:53:36.079
in length, are thin, and have slightly curved, pointed extremities.
864
00:53:36.760 --> 00:53:40.440
They diverge from each other and stand at first nearly upright.
865
00:53:41.039 --> 00:53:44.199
When lightly rubbed on either side, they slowly bend to
866
00:53:44.360 --> 00:53:47.880
that side and subsequently become straight again. The back or
867
00:53:47.960 --> 00:53:51.320
convex side, when placed in contact with a stick, became
868
00:53:51.599 --> 00:53:54.880
just perceptibly curved in one hour twenty minutes, but did
869
00:53:54.920 --> 00:53:58.000
not completely surround it until forty eight hours had elapsed.
870
00:53:58.519 --> 00:54:02.000
The concave side of another became considerably curved in two
871
00:54:02.079 --> 00:54:05.519
hours and clasp a stick in five hours. As the
872
00:54:05.599 --> 00:54:08.800
pairs of tendrils grow old, one tendril divert is more
873
00:54:08.920 --> 00:54:11.960
and more from the other, and both slowly bend backwards
874
00:54:12.039 --> 00:54:14.800
and downwards, so that after a time they project on
875
00:54:14.880 --> 00:54:18.079
opposite sides of the stem to that from which they arise.
876
00:54:18.360 --> 00:54:21.920
They then still retain their sensitiveness and can clasp support
877
00:54:22.039 --> 00:54:26.239
placed behind the stem. Owing to this power, the plant
878
00:54:26.320 --> 00:54:30.360
is able to ascend a thin upright stick. Ultimately, the
879
00:54:30.440 --> 00:54:32.880
two tendrils belonging to the same pedule, if they do
880
00:54:33.000 --> 00:54:36.360
not come into contact with any other object, loosely cross
881
00:54:36.440 --> 00:54:40.199
each other behind the stem, as at b in Fig. Seven.
882
00:54:41.079 --> 00:54:43.639
This movement of the tendril towards and round the stem
883
00:54:43.920 --> 00:54:46.719
is to a certain extent guided by their avoidance of
884
00:54:46.800 --> 00:54:49.239
the light. For when a plant stood so that one
885
00:54:49.280 --> 00:54:52.320
of the two tendrils was compelled in thus slowly moving
886
00:54:52.679 --> 00:54:55.679
to travel towards the light, and the other from the light,
887
00:54:56.079 --> 00:54:59.719
the latter always moved, as I repeatedly observed, more quickly
888
00:54:59.760 --> 00:55:04.480
than fellow. The tendrils do not contract spirally. In any case,
889
00:55:05.039 --> 00:55:07.239
their chance of finding the support depends on the growth
890
00:55:07.320 --> 00:55:09.800
of the plant on the wind, and on their own
891
00:55:10.000 --> 00:55:13.760
slow backward and downward movement, which, as we have just seen,
892
00:55:14.280 --> 00:55:16.679
is guided to a certain extent by the avoidance of
893
00:55:16.760 --> 00:55:20.000
the light, for neither the internodes nor the tendrils have
894
00:55:20.119 --> 00:55:24.159
any proper revolving movement. From this latter circumstance. From the
895
00:55:24.400 --> 00:55:28.480
slow movements of the tendrils after contact, though their sensitiveness
896
00:55:28.599 --> 00:55:31.599
is retained for an unusual length of time. From their
897
00:55:31.679 --> 00:55:34.920
simple structure and shortness, this plant is a less perfect
898
00:55:35.039 --> 00:55:38.280
climber than any other tendril bearing species observed by me.
899
00:55:39.000 --> 00:55:41.480
The plant, whilst young and only a few inches in
900
00:55:41.599 --> 00:55:45.000
light height, does not produce any tendrils, and considering that
901
00:55:45.079 --> 00:55:47.679
it grows to only about eight feet
in height, that
902
00:55:48.119 --> 00:55:51.360
the stem is zigzagged and is furnished as well as
903
00:55:51.559 --> 00:55:55.119
the petioles with spines, it is surprising that it should
904
00:55:55.159 --> 00:56:00.599
be provided with tendrils comparatively inefficient. Though these are the
905
00:56:00.679 --> 00:56:03.239
plants might have been left, one would have thought to
906
00:56:03.320 --> 00:56:06.599
climb by the aid of its spines alone, like our brambles.
907
00:56:07.199 --> 00:56:09.760
As however, it belongs to a genus, some of the
908
00:56:09.800 --> 00:56:13.119
species of which are furnished with much longer tendrils, we
909
00:56:13.199 --> 00:56:16.079
may suspect that it possesses these organs solely from being
910
00:56:16.159 --> 00:56:22.079
descended from progenitors more highly organized. In this respect, Thumereacia
911
00:56:22.639 --> 00:56:27.840
cordialis claviculata. According to Mole, page forty three, the extremities
912
00:56:27.920 --> 00:56:30.239
of the branched stem as well as the leaves are
913
00:56:30.320 --> 00:56:34.320
converted into tendrils. In the specimens examined by me, all
914
00:56:34.360 --> 00:56:37.679
the tendrils were certainly folier, and it is hardly credible
915
00:56:37.760 --> 00:56:40.480
that the same plant should produce tendrils of a widely
916
00:56:40.599 --> 00:56:44.679
different homological nature. Nevertheless, from this statement by Mole, I
917
00:56:44.800 --> 00:56:49.079
have ranked this species amongst the tendril bearers. If classed
918
00:56:49.119 --> 00:56:52.639
exclusively by its folier tendrils, it would be doubtful whether
919
00:56:52.679 --> 00:56:55.679
it ought not to have been placed amongst the leaf climbers,
920
00:56:55.719 --> 00:57:01.360
with its allies Grumeria and Adulamia. A large majority of
921
00:57:01.480 --> 00:57:05.440
its so called tendrils still bear leaflets, though excessively reduced
922
00:57:05.519 --> 00:57:08.519
in size, but some few of them may properly be
923
00:57:08.639 --> 00:57:12.519
designated as tendrils, for they are completely destitute of lemonae
924
00:57:12.800 --> 00:57:16.800
or blades. Consequently, we here pull the plant in an
925
00:57:16.840 --> 00:57:19.239
actual state of transition from a leaf climbate to a
926
00:57:19.320 --> 00:57:23.039
tendril bearer. Whilst the plant is rather young, only the
927
00:57:23.159 --> 00:57:26.000
outer leaves, but when full grown all the leaves have
928
00:57:26.280 --> 00:57:30.079
their extremities converted into more or less perfect tendrils. I
929
00:57:30.239 --> 00:57:34.840
have examined species from one locality alone, viz. Hampshire, and
930
00:57:35.000 --> 00:57:38.280
it is not improbable that plants growing under different conditions
931
00:57:38.400 --> 00:57:40.920
might have their leaves a little more or less changed
932
00:57:41.119 --> 00:57:45.519
into true tendrils Whilst the plant is young. The first
933
00:57:45.599 --> 00:57:48.719
form leaves are not modified in any way, but those
934
00:57:48.920 --> 00:57:52.360
next formed have their terminal leaflets reduced in size, and
935
00:57:52.559 --> 00:57:55.440
soon all the leaves. Assume that the structure represented in
936
00:57:55.519 --> 00:57:59.559
the following drawing. This leaf bore nine leaflets, the lower
937
00:57:59.599 --> 00:58:03.639
ones being much subdivided. The terminal portion of the petule
938
00:58:03.679 --> 00:58:06.760
about one and one half inchine length above the leaflet
939
00:58:07.039 --> 00:58:10.159
f is thinner and more elongated than the lower part,
940
00:58:10.280 --> 00:58:13.920
and may be considered as the tendril. The leaflets borne
941
00:58:13.960 --> 00:58:17.239
by this part are greatly reduced in size, being on
942
00:58:17.440 --> 00:58:20.400
an average about the tenth of an inchine length and
943
00:58:20.599 --> 00:58:24.679
very narrow. One small leaflet measured one twelfth of an
944
00:58:24.760 --> 00:58:28.639
inchine length and one seventy fifth in breadth two point
945
00:58:28.760 --> 00:58:32.519
one one six millimeters and zero point three three nine millimeters,
946
00:58:32.920 --> 00:58:37.280
so that it was almost microscopically minute. All the reduced
947
00:58:37.360 --> 00:58:41.320
leaflets have branching nerves and terminate in little spines like
948
00:58:41.440 --> 00:58:45.440
those of the fully developed leaflets. Every gradation could be
949
00:58:45.599 --> 00:58:49.079
traced until we come to branchlets as A and D
950
00:58:49.400 --> 00:58:52.360
in the figure, which show no vestige of a lamina
951
00:58:52.480 --> 00:58:56.159
or blade. Occasionally, all the terminal branchlets of the petiole
952
00:58:56.199 --> 00:59:00.280
are in this condition, and we have a trutendril. The
953
00:59:00.360 --> 00:59:03.400
several terminal branches of the petiole bearing the much reduced
954
00:59:03.480 --> 00:59:07.360
leaflets A, D, C, D are highly sensitive. For a
955
00:59:07.440 --> 00:59:10.280
loop of thread weighing only one sixteenth of a grain
956
00:59:10.639 --> 00:59:14.119
four point zero five milligrams caused them to become greatly
957
00:59:14.239 --> 00:59:18.039
curved in under four hours. When the loop was removed,
958
00:59:18.079 --> 00:59:21.559
the petioles straightened themselves in about the same time. The
959
00:59:21.639 --> 00:59:25.719
petiole e was rather less sensitive, and in another specimen
960
00:59:25.880 --> 00:59:30.239
in which the corresponding petiole bore rather larger leaflets, a
961
00:59:30.320 --> 00:59:32.679
loop of thread weighing one eighth of a grain did
962
00:59:32.760 --> 00:59:36.800
not cause any curvature until eighteen hours had elapsed. Loops
963
00:59:36.840 --> 00:59:39.519
of thread weighing one fourth of a grain left suspended
964
00:59:39.599 --> 00:59:43.079
on the lower petules F to L during several days
965
00:59:43.159 --> 00:59:46.519
produced no effect. Yet, the three petioles F, G and
966
00:59:46.840 --> 00:59:50.679
H were not quite insensible, for when left in contact
967
00:59:50.760 --> 00:59:53.320
with a stick for a day or two, they slowly
968
00:59:53.400 --> 00:59:57.920
curled round it. Thus the sensibility of the petiole gradually
969
00:59:58.000 --> 01:00:01.280
diminishes from the tendril like extremity to the base. The
970
01:00:01.400 --> 01:00:04.199
internodes of the stem are not at all sensitive, which
971
01:00:04.280 --> 01:00:07.400
makes most statement that they are sometimes converted into tendrils
972
01:00:07.440 --> 01:00:11.760
the more surprising, not to say improbable. The whole leaf,
973
01:00:11.840 --> 01:00:15.000
whilst young and sensitive, stands almost vertically upwards, as we
974
01:00:15.079 --> 01:00:17.760
have seen to be the case with many tendrils. It
975
01:00:18.000 --> 01:00:20.679
is in a continual movement, and one that I observe
976
01:00:20.760 --> 01:00:24.519
swept an average rate of two hours for each revolution,
977
01:00:25.239 --> 01:00:29.320
large through irregular ellipses, which were sometimes narrow, sometimes broad,
978
01:00:29.360 --> 01:00:33.079
with their longer axes directed to different points of the compass.
979
01:00:33.920 --> 01:00:38.159
The young internodes likewise revolved irregularly in ellipses or spires,
980
01:00:38.440 --> 01:00:41.679
so that by these combined movements a considerable space was
981
01:00:41.719 --> 01:00:45.599
swept for a support. If the terminal or attenuated portion
982
01:00:45.719 --> 01:00:48.760
of perpetual fails to seize an object, it ultimately bends
983
01:00:48.800 --> 01:00:52.840
downwards and inwards, and soon loses all irritability and power
984
01:00:52.880 --> 01:00:56.360
of movement. This bending down dufers much in nature from
985
01:00:56.440 --> 01:00:59.280
that which occurs with the extremities of the young leaves
986
01:00:59.360 --> 01:01:02.559
in many speed is of comatus, for these, when thus
987
01:01:02.639 --> 01:01:06.599
bent downwards or hooked, first acquire their full debris of
988
01:01:06.719 --> 01:01:14.280
sensitiveness Dicentra phallic trifolia. In this allied plant, metamorphosis of
989
01:01:14.400 --> 01:01:17.800
the terminal leaflets is complete, and they are converted into
990
01:01:17.920 --> 01:01:21.639
perfect tendrils. Whilst the plant is young, the tendrils appear
991
01:01:21.840 --> 01:01:25.239
like modified branches, and a distinguished botanists thought that they
992
01:01:25.320 --> 01:01:28.199
were of this nature. But in a full grown plant
993
01:01:28.239 --> 01:01:30.679
there can be no doubt, as I am assured by
994
01:01:30.760 --> 01:01:34.679
doctor Hooker, that they are modified leaves. When a full
995
01:01:34.800 --> 01:01:38.119
size they are above five inches in length, they bifurcate twice,
996
01:01:38.239 --> 01:01:42.880
three thrice, or even four times. Their extremities are hooked
997
01:01:42.920 --> 01:01:46.280
and blunt. All the branches of the tendrils are sensitive
998
01:01:46.400 --> 01:01:48.840
on all sides, but the basal portion of the main
999
01:01:48.920 --> 01:01:53.039
stem is only slightly so. The terminal branches, when lightly
1000
01:01:53.159 --> 01:01:55.840
rubbed with a twig, became curved in the course of
1001
01:01:56.000 --> 01:02:00.960
from thirty minutes to forty two minutes, and straighten themselves
1002
01:02:01.079 --> 01:02:04.280
in between ten hours and twenty hours. A loop of
1003
01:02:04.480 --> 01:02:07.400
thread weighing one eighth of a grain plainly caused the
1004
01:02:07.480 --> 01:02:10.719
thinner branches to bend, as did occasionally a loop weigh
1005
01:02:10.719 --> 01:02:13.800
in one sixteenth of a grain, but this latter weight,
1006
01:02:13.960 --> 01:02:17.480
though left suspended, was not sufficient to cause a permanent flexure.
1007
01:02:18.199 --> 01:02:20.519
The whole leaf, with its tendril, as well as the
1008
01:02:20.679 --> 01:02:25.199
young upper internodes, revolves vigorously and quickly, though irregularly, and
1009
01:02:25.360 --> 01:02:28.679
thus sweeps a wide space. The figure traced on a
1010
01:02:28.760 --> 01:02:31.599
bell glass was either an irregular spire or a zig
1011
01:02:31.719 --> 01:02:35.039
zag lie. The nearest approach to an ellipse was an
1012
01:02:35.119 --> 01:02:38.519
elongated figure of eight with one end a little open,
1013
01:02:38.960 --> 01:02:41.719
and this was completed in one hour fifty three minutes.
1014
01:02:42.480 --> 01:02:45.440
During a period of six hours seventeen minutes, another shoot
1015
01:02:45.559 --> 01:02:49.639
made a complex figure, apparently representing three and a half ellipses.
1016
01:02:50.280 --> 01:02:52.760
When the lower part of the petule bearing the leaflets
1017
01:02:52.840 --> 01:02:56.360
was securely fastened. The tendril itself described similar but much
1018
01:02:56.400 --> 01:03:01.719
smaller figures. These species climb well. The tendrils, after clasping
1019
01:03:01.760 --> 01:03:04.599
a stick become thicker and more rigid, but the blunt
1020
01:03:04.639 --> 01:03:08.159
hooks do not turn and adapt themselves to the supporting surface,
1021
01:03:08.480 --> 01:03:10.800
as is done in so perfect a manner by some
1022
01:03:10.920 --> 01:03:16.000
Bignonacia and Cobain. The tendrils of young plants two or
1023
01:03:16.119 --> 01:03:18.719
three feet in height are only half the length of
1024
01:03:18.800 --> 01:03:21.559
those borne by the same plant when grown taller, and
1025
01:03:21.679 --> 01:03:24.800
they do not contract spirally after classing a support, but
1026
01:03:24.960 --> 01:03:29.480
only become slightly flexuous. Full Signe's tendrils, on the other hand,
1027
01:03:29.599 --> 01:03:32.960
contract spirally with the exception of the thick basal portion.
1028
01:03:33.960 --> 01:03:37.440
Tendrils which have caught nothing simply bend downwards and inwards,
1029
01:03:37.800 --> 01:03:41.079
like the extremity of the leaves of the Corydalis claviculata.
1030
01:03:41.800 --> 01:03:44.360
But in all cases the petule after a time is
1031
01:03:44.480 --> 01:03:48.920
angularly and abruptly bent downwards, like that of the echromocarpos
1032
01:03:49.360 --> 01:03:51.199
end of Chapter three.