M., after which
hour it moved backwards. On the following morning it was not far distant
from the point whence it had first started. The actual amount of movement
of the apex from side to side was very small, viz. about 1/18th of an inch.
The seedling of which the movements are shown in Fig. 48, B, was 1 3/4 inch
in height, and consisted of three internodes besides the bud on the summit.
The figure, which was described during 10 h., apparently represents two
irregular and unequal ellipses or circles. The actual amount of movement of
the apex, in the line not influenced by the light, was .11 of an inch, and
in that thus influenced .37 of an inch. With a seedling 2 inches in height
it was obvious, even without the aid of any tracing, that the uppermost
part of the stem bent successively to all points of the compass, like the
stem of a twining plant. A little increase in the power of circumnutating
and in the flexibility of the stem, would convert the common asparagus into
a twining plant, as has occurred with one species in this genus, namely, A.
scandens.
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