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"The Power of Movement in Plants"

142, p. 351), representing the nyctitropic movements of the terminal
leaflet of Trifolium subterraneum, remembering that the curved broken lines
at the top ought to be prolonged much higher up, he will see that the great
rise in the evening and the great fall in the morning together form a large
ellipse like one of those described during the daytime, differing only in
size. Or, he may look at the diagram (Fig. 103, p. 236) of the 3 ? ellipses
described in the course of 6 h. 35 m. by a leaf of Lupinus speciosus, which
is one of the species in this genus that does not sleep; and he will see
that by merely prolonging upwards the line which was already rising late in
the evening, and bringing it down again next morning, the diagram would
represent the movements of a sleeping plant.
With those sleeping plants which describe several ellipses in the daytime,
and which travel in a strongly zigzag line, often making in their course
minute loops, triangles, etc., if as soon as one of the ellipses begins in
the evening to be greatly increased in size, dots are made every 2 or 3
minutes and these are joined, the line then described is almost strictly
rectilinear, in strong contrast with the lines made during the daytime.


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