Insectivorous Plants

by Charles Darwin

When the filaments were roughly touched, at the bases of which slits had been made, either on both sides or on one side, parallel to the midrib or at right angles to it, the two lobes, or only one, moved. In one of these cases, the lobe on the side which bore the filament that was touched moved, but in three other cases the opposite lobe alone moved; so that an injury which was sufficient to prevent a lobe moving did not prevent the transmission from it of a stimulus which excited the opposite lobe to move. We thus also learn that, although normally both lobes move together, each has the power of independent movement. A case, indeed, has already been given of a torpid leaf that had lately re-opened after catching an insect, of which one lobe alone moved when irritated. Moreover, one end of the same lobe can close and re- expand, independently of the other end, as was seen in some of the foregoing experiments.

When the lobes, which are rather thick, close, no trace of wrinkling can be seen on any part of their upper [page 317] surfaces, It appears therefore that the cells must contract. The chief seat of the movement is evidently in the thick mass of cells which overlies the central bundle of vessels in the midrib. To ascertain whether this part contracts, a leaf was fastened on the stage of the microscope in such a manner that the two lobes could not become quite shut, and having made two minute black dots on the midrib, in a transverse line and a little towards one side, they were found by the micrometer to be 17/1000 of an inch apart. One of the filaments was then touched and the lobes closed; but as they were prevented from meeting, I could still see the two dots, which now were 15/1000 of an inch apart, so that a small portion of the upper surface of the midrib had contracted in a transverse line 2/1000 of an inch (.0508 mm.).

We know that the lobes, whilst closing, become slightly incurved throughout their whole breadth. This movement appears to be due to the contraction of the superficial layers of cells over the whole upper surface. In order to observe their contraction, a narrow strip was cut out of one lobe at right angles to the midrib, so that the surface of the opposite lobe could be seen in this part when the leaf was shut. After the leaf had recovered from the operation and had re-expanded, three minute black dots were made on the surface opposite to the slit or window, in a line at right angles to the midrib. The distance between the dots was found to be 40/1000 of an inch, so that the two extreme dots were 80/1000 of an inch apart. One of the filaments was now touched and the leaf closed. On again measuring the distances between the dots, the two next to the midrib were nearer together by 1 to 2/1000 of an inch, and the two further dots by 3 to 4/1000 of an inch, than they were before; so that the two extreme [page 318] dots now stood about 5/1000 of an inch (.127 mm.) nearer together than before. If we suppose the whole upper surface of the lobe, which was 400/1000 of an inch in breadth, to have contracted in the same proportion, the total contraction will have amounted to about 25/1000 or 1/40 of an inch (.635 mm.); but whether this is sufficient to account for the slight inward curvature of the whole lobe, I am unable to say.

Finally, with respect to the movement of the leaves, the wonderful discovery made by Dr. Burdon Sanderson* is now universally known; namely that there exists a normal electrical current in the blade and footstalk; and that when the leaves are irritated, the current is disturbed in the same manner as takes place during the contraction of the muscle of an animal.

The Re-expansion of the Leaves.—This is effected at an insensibly slow rate, whether or not any object is enclosed.** One lobe can re-expand by itself, as occurred with the torpid leaf of which one lobe alone had closed. We have also seen in the experiments with cheese and albumen that the two ends of the same lobe can re-expand to a certain extent independently of each other. But in all ordinary cases both lobes open at the same time. The re-expansion is not determined by the sensitive filaments; all three filaments on one lobe were cut off close to their bases; and the three

* Proc. Royal Soc.’ vol. xxi. p. 495; and lecture at the Royal Institution, June 5, 1874, given in ‘Nature,’ 1874, pp. 105 and 127.

** Nuttall, in his ‘Gen. American Plants,’ p. 277 (note), says that, whilst collecting this plant in its native home, “I had occasion to observe that a detached leaf would make repeated efforts towards disclosing itself to the influence of the sun; these attempts consisted in an undulatory motion of the marginal ciliae, accompanied by a partial opening and succeeding collapse of the lamina, which at length terminated in a complete expansion and in the destruction of sensibility.” I am indebted to Prof. Oliver for this reference; but I do not understand what took place. [page 319]

leaves thus treated re-expanded,—one to a partial extent in 24 hrs.,—a second to the same extent in 48 hrs., and the third, which had been previously injured, not until the sixth day. These leaves after their re-expansion closed quickly when the filaments on the other lobe were irritated. These were then cut off one of the leaves, so that none were left. This mutilated leaf, notwithstanding the loss of all its filaments, re-expanded in two days in the usual manner. When the filaments have been excited by immersion in a solution of sugar, the lobes do not expand so soon as when the filaments have been merely touched; and this, I presume, is due to their having been strongly affected through exosmose, so that they continue for some time to transmit a motor impulse to the upper surface of the leaf.

The following facts make me believe that the several layers of cells forming the lower surface of the leaf are always in a state of tension; and that it is owing to this mechanical state, aided probably by fresh fluid being attracted into the cells, that the lobes begin to separate or expand as soon as the contraction of the upper surface diminishes. A leaf was cut off and suddenly plunged perpendicularly into boiling water: I expected that the lobes would have closed, but instead of doing so, they diverged a little. I then took another fine leaf, with the lobes standing at an angle of nearly 80o to each other; and on immersing it as before, the angle suddenly increased to 90o. A third leaf was torpid from having recently re-expanded after having caught a fly, so that repeated touches of the filaments caused not the least movement; nevertheless, when similarly immersed, the lobes separated a little. As these leaves were inserted perpendicularly into the boiling water, both surfaces and the filaments [page 320] must have been equally affected; and I can understand the divergence of the lobes only by supposing that the cells on the lower side, owing to their state of tension, acted mechanically and thus suddenly drew the lobes a little apart, as soon as the cells on the upper surface were killed and lost their contractile power. We have seen that boiling water in like manner causes the tentacles of Drosera to curve backwards; and this is an analogous movement to the divergence of the lobes of Dionaea.

In some concluding remarks in the fifteenth chapter on the Droseraceae, the different kinds of irritability possessed by the several genera, and the different manner in which they capture insects, will be compared. [page 321]