LEGUMINOSAE.--Pisum sativum.--The common pea was the subject of a valuable memoir by Dutrochet, {27} who discovered that the internodes and tendrils revolve in ellipses. The ellipses are generally very narrow, but sometimes approach to circles. I several times observed that the longer axis slowly changed its direction, which is of importance, as the tendril thus sweeps a wider space. Owing to this change of direction, and likewise to the movement of the stem towards the light, the successive irregular ellipses generally form an irregular spire. I have thought it worth while to annex a tracing of the course pursued by the upper internode (the movement of the tendril being neglected) of a young plant from 8.40 A.M. to 9.15 P.M. The course was traced on a hemispherical glass placed over the plant, and the dots with figures give the hours of observation; each dot being joined by a straight line. No doubt all the lines would have been curvilinear if the course had been observed at much shorter intervals. The extremity of the petiole, from which the young tendril arose, was two inches from the glass, so that if a pencil two inches in length could have been affixed to the petiole, it would have traced the annexed figure on the under side of the glass; but it must be remembered that the figure is reduced by one-half. Neglecting the first great sweep towards the light from the figure 1 to 2, the end of the petiole swept a space 4 inches across in one direction, and 3 inches in another. As a full-grown tendril is considerably above two inches in length, and as the tendril itself bends and revolves in harmony with the internode, a considerably wider space is swept than is here represented on a reduced scale. Dutrochet observed the completion of an ellipse in 1 hr. 20 m.; and I saw one completed in 1 hr. 30 m. The direction followed is variable, either with or against the sun.
Dutrochet asserts that the petioles of the leaves spontaneously revolve, as well as the young internodes and tendrils; but he does not say that he secured the internodes; when this was done, I could never detect any movement in the petiole, except to and from the light.
The tendrils, on the other hand, when the internodes and petioles are secured, describe irregular spires or regular ellipses, exactly like those made by the internodes. A young tendril, only 1.125 of an inch in length, revolved. Dutrochet has shown that when a plant is placed in a room, so that the light enters laterally, the internodes travel much quicker to the light than from it: on the other hand, he asserts that the tendril itself moves from the light towards the dark side of the room. With due deference to this great observer, I think he was mistaken, owing to his not having secured the internodes. I took a young plant with highly sensitive tendrils, and tied the petiole so that the tendril alone could move; it completed a perfect ellipse in 1 hr. 30 m.; I then turned the plant partly round, but this made no change in the direction of the succeeding ellipse. The next day I watched a plant similarly secured until the tendril (which was highly sensitive) made an ellipse in a line exactly to and from the light; the movement was so great that the tendril at the two ends of its elliptical course bent itself a little beneath the horizon, thus travelling more than 180 degrees; but the curvature was fully as great towards the light as towards the dark side of the room. I believe Dutrochet was misled by not having secured the internodes, and by having observed a plant of which the internodes and tendrils no longer curved in harmony together, owing to inequality of age.
Dutrochet made no observations on the sensitiveness of the tendrils. These, whilst young and about an inch in length with the leaflets on the petiole only partially expanded, are highly sensitive; a single light touch with a twig on the inferior or concave surface near the tip caused them to bend quickly, as did occasionally a loop of thread weighing one-seventh of a grain (9.25 mg.). The upper or convex surface is barely or not at all sensitive. Tendrils, after bending from a touch, straighten themselves in about two hours, and are then ready to act again. As soon as they begin to grow old, the extremities of their two or three pairs of branches become hooked, and they then appear to form an excellent grappling instrument; but this is not the case. For at this period they have generally quite lost their sensitiveness; and when hooked on to twigs, some were not at all affected, and others required from 18 hrs. to 24 hrs. before clasping such twigs; nevertheless, they were able to utilise the last vestige of irritability owing to their extremities being hooked. Ultimately the lateral branches contract spirally, but not the middle or main stem.