The movement of the ‘Praying’ Palm is a thermonastic phenomenon. The tree, apparently so rigid, responds as a gigantic pulvinoid to the changes of its environment.

III.—ACTION OF STIMULUS ON VEGETABLE TISSUES

By

Sir J. C. Bose,

Assisted by

Narendra Nath Sen Gupta.

The leaf of Mimosa pudica undergoes a rapid fall when subjected to any kind of shock. This plant has, therefore, been regarded as “sensitive,” in contra­distinction to ordinary plants which remain apparently immobile under external stimulus. I shall, however, show in course of this Paper that there is no justification in regarding ordinary plants as insensitive.

Let us first take any radial organ of a plant and subject it to an electric shock. It will be found that the organ undergoes a contraction in length in response to the stimulus. On the cessation of excitation the specimen gradually recovers its original length. Different organs of plant may be employed for the experiment, for example, the tendril of Cucurbita, the pistil of Datura, or the flower bud of Crinum. The shortening may be observed by means of a low power microscope. Greater importance is, however, attached to the detailed study of response and its time relations. The pull exerted by a delicate organ during its excitatory contraction is slight; hence arises the necessity of devising a very sensitive apparatus, which would give records magnified from ten to a hundred times.