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Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882

"The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants"

Nat. Bot. 4th series, tom. xii. p. 89.
{38} It occurred to me that the movement of notation and that from a
touch might be differently affected by anaesthetics, in the same
manner as Paul Bert has shown to be the case with the sleep-movements
of Mimosa and those from a touch. I tried the common pea and
Passiflora gracilis, but I succeeded only in observing that both
movements were unaffected by exposure for 1.5 hrs. to a rather large
dose of sulphuric ether. In this respect they present a wonderful
contrast with Drosera, owing no doubt to the presence of absorbent
glands in the latter plant.
{39} Text-Book of Botany, 1875, p. 779.
{40} Journal of Linn. Soc. vol. ix. p. 348. Professor G. Jaeger has
well remarked ('In Sachen Darwin's, insbesondere contra Wigand,'
1874, p. 106) that it is highly characteristic of climbing plants to
produce thin, elongated, and flexible stems. He further remarks that
plants growing beneath other and taller species or trees, are
naturally those which would be developed into climbers; anti such
plants, from stretching towards the light, and from not being much
agitated by the wind, tend to produce long, thin and flexible shoots.


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