Insectivorous Plants eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 527 pages of information about Insectivorous Plants.

Insectivorous Plants eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 527 pages of information about Insectivorous Plants.

I next observed the degree of inflection which leaves underwent within stated periods, whilst still immersed in warm water, kept as nearly as possible at the same temperature; but I will here and elsewhere give only a few of the many trials made.  A leaf was left for 10 m. in water at 100o (37o.7 Cent.), but no inflection occurred.  A second leaf, however, treated in the same manner, had a few of its exterior tentacles very slightly inflected in 6 m., and several irregularly but not closely inflected in 10 m.  A third leaf, kept in water at 105o to 106o (40o.5 to 41o.1 Cent.), was very moderately inflected in 6 m.  A fourth leaf, in water at 110o (43o.3 Cent.), was somewhat inflected in 4 m., and considerably so in from 6 to 7 m.

Three leaves were placed in water which was heated rather quickly, and by the time the temperature rose to 115o-116o (46o.1 to 46o.06 Cent.), all three were inflected.  I then removed the lamp, and in a few minutes every single tentacle was closely inflected.  The protoplasm within the cells was not killed, for it was seen to be in distinct movement; and the leaves, having been left in cold water for 20 hrs., re-expanded.  Another leaf was immersed in water at 100o (37.7o Cent.), which was raised to 120o (48o.8 Cent.); and all the tentacles, except the extreme marginal ones, soon became closely inflected.  The leaf was now placed in cold water, and in 7 hrs. 30 m. it had partly, and in 10 hrs. fully, re-expanded.  On the following morning it was immersed in a weak solution of carbonate of [page 69] ammonia, and the glands quickly became black, with strongly marked aggregation in the tentacles, showing that the protoplasm was alive, and that the glands had not lost their power of absorption.  Another leaf was placed in water at 110o (43o.3 Cent.) which was raised to 120o (48o.8 Cent.); and every tentacle, excepting one, was quickly and closely inflected.  This leaf was now immersed in a few drops of a strong solution of carbonate of ammonia (one part to 109 of water); in 10 m. all the glands became intensely black, and in 2 hrs. the protoplasm in the cells of the pedicels was well aggregated.  Another leaf was suddenly plunged, and as usual waved about, in water at 120o, and the tentacles became inflected in from 2 m. to 3 m., but only so as to stand at right angles to the disc.  The leaf was now placed in the same solution (viz. one part of carbonate of ammonia to 109 of water, or 4 grs. to 1 oz., which I will for the future designate as the strong solution), and when I looked at it again after the interval of an hour, the glands were blackened, and there was well-marked aggregation.  After an additional interval of 4 hrs. the tentacles had become much more inflected.  It deserves notice that a solution as strong as this never causes inflection in ordinary cases.  Lastly a leaf was suddenly placed in water at 125o (51o.6 Cent.), and was left in it until the water cooled; the tentacles were rendered of a bright red and soon became inflected.  The contents of the cells underwent some degree of aggregation, which in the course of three hours increased; but the masses of protoplasm did not become spherical, as almost always occurs with leaves immersed in a solution of carbonate of ammonia.]

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Insectivorous Plants from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.