Insectivorous Plants. Darwin Charles
but there was no trace of inflection; it was then placed in cold water, and after an interval of 15 m. very slow movement was distinctly seen in a small mass of protoplasm in one of the cells of a tentacle.12 After a few hours all the tentacles and the blade became inflected.
Experiment 2. – Another leaf was plunged into water at 130o to 131o, and as before there was no inflection. After being kept in cold water for an hour, it was placed in the strong solution of ammonia, and in the course of 55 m. the tentacles were considerably inflected. The glands, which before had been rendered of a brighter red, were now blackened. The protoplasm in the cells of the tentacles was distinctly aggregated; but the spheres were much smaller than those generated in unheated leaves when subjected to carbonate of ammonia. After an additional 2 hrs. all the tentacles, excepting six or seven, were closely inflected.
Experiment 3. – A similar experiment to the last, with exactly the same results.
Experiment 4. – A fine leaf was placed in water at 100o (37o.7 Cent.), which was then raised to 145o (62o.7 Cent.). Soon after immersion, there was, as might have been expected, strong inflection. The leaf was now removed and left in cold water; but from having been exposed to so high a temperature, it never re-expanded.
Experiment 5. – Leaf immersed at 130o (54o.4 Cent.), and the water raised to 145o (62o.7 Cent.), there was no immediate inflection; it was then placed in cold water, and after 1 hr. 20 m. some of the tentacles on one side became inflected. This leaf was now placed in the strong solution, and in 40 m. all the submarginal tentacles were well inflected, and the glands blackened. After an additional interval of 2 hrs. 45 m. all the tentacles, except eight or ten, were closely inflected, with their cells exhibiting a slight degree of aggregation; but the spheres of protoplasm were very small, and the cells of the exterior tentacles contained some pulpy or disintegrated brownish matter.
Experiments 6 and 7. – Two leaves were plunged in water at 135o (57o.2 Cent.) which was raised to 145o (62o.7 Cent.); neither became inflected. One of these, however, after having been left for 31 m. in cold water, exhibited some slight inflection, which increased after an additional interval of 1 hr. 45 m., until all the tentacles, except sixteen or seventeen, were more or less inflected; but the leaf was so much injured that it never re-expanded. The other leaf, after having been left for half an hour in cold water, was put into the strong solution, but no inflection ensued; the glands, however, were blackened, and in some cells there was a little aggregation, the spheres of protoplasm being extremely small; in other cells, especially in the exterior tentacles, there was much greenish-brown pulpy matter.
Experiment 8. – A leaf was plunged and waved about for a few minutes in water at 140o (60 °Cent.), and was then left for half an hour in cold water, but there was no inflection. It was now placed in the strong solution, and after 2 hrs. 30 m. the inner submarginal tentacles were well inflected, with their glands blackened, and some imperfect aggregation in the cells of the pedicels. Three or four of the glands were spotted with the white porcelain-like structure, like that produced by boiling water. I have seen this result in no other instance after an immersion of only a few minutes in water at so low a temperature as 140o, and in only one leaf out of four, after a similar immersion at a temperature of 145o Fahr. On the other hand, with two leaves, one placed in water at 145o (62o.7 Cent.), and the other in water at 140o (60 °Cent.), both being left therein until the water cooled, the glands of both became white and porcelain-like. So that the duration of the immersion is an important element in the result.
Experiment 9. – A leaf was placed in water at 140o (60 °Cent.), which was raised to 150o(65o.5 Cent.); there was no inflection; on the contrary, the outer tentacles were somewhat bowed backwards. The glands became like porcelain, but some of them were a little mottled with purple. The bases of the glands were often more affected than their summits. This leaf having been left in the strong solution did not undergo any inflection or aggregation.
Experiment 10. – A leaf was plunged in water at 150o to 150 1/2o (65o.5 Cent.); it became somewhat flaccid, with the outer tentacles slightly reflexed, and the inner ones a little bent inwards, but only towards their tips; and this latter fact shows that the movement was not one of true inflection, as the basal part alone normally bends. The tentacles were as usual rendered of a very bright red, with the glands almost white like porcelain, yet tinged with pink. The leaf having been placed in the strong solution, the cell-contents of the tentacles became of a muddy-brown, with no trace of aggregation.
Experiment 11. – A leaf was immersed in water at 145o (62o.7 Cent.), which was raised to 156o (68o.8 Cent.). The tentacles became bright red and somewhat reflexed, with almost all the glands like porcelain; those on the disc being still pinkish, those near the margin quite white. The leaf being placed as usual first in cold water and then in the strong solution, the cells in the tentacles became of a muddy greenish brown, with the protoplasm not aggregated. Nevertheless, four of the glands escaped being rendered like porcelain, and the pedicels of these glands were spirally curled, like a French horn, towards their upper ends; but this can by no means be considered as a case of true inflection. The protoplasm within the cells of the twisted portions was aggregated into distinct though excessively minute purple spheres. This case shows clearly that the protoplasm, after having been exposed to a high temperature for a few minutes, is capable of aggregation when afterwards subjected to the action of carbonate of ammonia, unless the heat has been sufficient to cause coagulation.]
Concluding Remarks. – As the hair-like tentacles are extremely thin and have delicate walls, and as the leaves were waved about for some minutes close to the bulb of the thermometer, it seems scarcely possible that they should not have been raised very nearly to the temperature which the instrument indicated. From the eleven last observations we see that a temperature of 130o (54o.4 Cent.) never causes the immediate inflection of the tentacles, though a temperature from 120o to 125o (48o.8 to 51o.6 Cent.) quickly produces this effect. But the leaves are paralysed only for a time by a temperature of 130o, as afterwards, whether left in simple water or in a solution of carbonate of ammonia, they become inflected and their protoplasm undergoes aggregation. This great difference in the effects of a higher and lower temperature may be compared with that from immersion in strong and weak solutions of the salts of ammonia; for the former do not excite movement, whereas the latter act energetically. A temporary suspension of the power of movement due to heat is called by Sachs13 heat-rigidity; and this in the case of the sensitive-plant (Mimosa) is induced by its exposure for a few minutes to humid air, raised to 120o-122o Fahr., or 49o to 50 °Cent. It deserves notice that the leaves of Drosera, after being immersed in water at 130o Fahr., are excited into movement by a solution of the carbonate so strong that it would paralyse ordinary leaves and cause no inflection.
The exposure of the leaves for a few minutes even to a temperature of 145o Fahr. (62o.7 Cent.) does not always kill them; as when afterwards left in cold water, or in a strong solution of carbonate of ammonia, they generally, though not always, become inflected; and the protoplasm within their cells undergoes aggregation, though the spheres thus formed are extremely small, with many of the cells partly filled with brownish muddy matter. In two instances, when leaves were immersed in water, at a lower temperature than 130o (54o.4 Cent.), which was then raised to 145o (62o.7 Cent.), they became during the earlier period of immersion inflected, but on being afterwards left in cold water were incapable of re-expansion. Exposure for a few minutes to a temperature of 145o sometimes causes some few of the more sensitive glands to be speckled with the porcelain-like appearance; and on one occasion this occurred at a temperature of 140o (60 °Cent.). On another occasion, when a leaf was placed in water at this temperature of only 140o, and left therein till the water cooled, every gland became like porcelain. Exposure for a few minutes to a temperature of 150o (65o.5 Cent.) generally produces this effect, yet many glands retain a pinkish colour, and many present a speckled appearance. This high temperature never causes true inflection; on the contrary, the tentacles commonly become reflexed, though to a less degree than when immersed in boiling water; and this apparently is due to their passive power of elasticity. After exposure to a temperature of 150o Fahr., the protoplasm, if subsequently subjected to carbonate of ammonia, instead of undergoing aggregation, is converted into disintegrated or pulpy discoloured matter. In short, the leaves are generally killed by this degree of heat; but owing to differences of age or constitution,
Sachs states ('Trait de Botanique,' 1874, p. 855) that the movements of the protoplasm in the hairs of a Cucurbita ceased after they were exposed for 1 m. in water to a temperature of 47o to 48 °Cent., or 117o to 119o Fahr.
'Trait de Bot.' 1874, p. 1034.