Page:Life Movements in Plants.djvu/32

2 In Mimosa, the responsive movement is brought about by a sudden diminution of turgor in the pulvinus. But very little is definitely known about the responsive reaction in growing organs. Thus in a tendril, one-sided contraction causes a shortening of the concave side and a sudden increase of growth on the convex. No explanation of this difference has hitherto been forthcoming. Under the action of light of different intensities a growing organ may approach the source of light, or place itself at right angles or move away from it. Again under the identical stimulus of gravity, the root moves downwards, and the shoot upwards. The sign of response in different organs thus changes, apparently without any reason. It is thus seen, that there is hardly any responsive movement that has been observed of which an example directly to the contrary may not be found. For this reason it has appeared hopeless to unify these very diverse phenomena, and there has been a tendency towards a belief that it was not any definite physiological reaction, but the individuality of the plant that determines the choice of its movement.

The complexities which baffle us may, however, arise from the combination of factors whose individual reactions are unknown to us. I shall show, for example, how the movement of a pulvinus under a given stimulus is determined by the point of application, direct stimulus producing one effect, and indirect the diametrically opposite. The normal reaction is again modified by the tonic condition of the plant. There is again the likelihood of the presence of other modifying factors. It is clear how very different the results would become by the permutation and combination of these diverse factors.

For a comprehensive study of the phenomenon of plant movement, it is therefore necessary to investigate