The Power of Movement in Plants
- Language:
- English
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Written by the author
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~200,000 words · 955 passages
Cite this work
- APACharles Darwin. (n.d.). The Power of Movement in Plants. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/charles-darwin/the-power-of-movement-in-plants
- MLACharles Darwin. "The Power of Movement in Plants." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/charles-darwin/the-power-of-movement-in-plants.
- ChicagoCharles Darwin. The Power of Movement in Plants. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/charles-darwin/the-power-of-movement-in-plants.
What it is about
The study of how plants move: circumnutation, the constant circling of the growing tip, and the response to light, to gravity and to touch.
Context and history
Published in 1880, and written with his son Francis, who did a large share of the experiments; the title page says so and the catalogue does not, so it is worth stating. It is Darwin's last major book and his most experimental: they cap root tips with tiny hoods, throw light from the side, measure deviations over hours. At the end he proposes that the root tip acts as a centre directing the movement of the rest — an idea left aside for a century and taken up again by recent plant physiology.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
Brassica oleracea, circumnutation of the radicle, of the arched hypocotyl whilst still buried beneath the ground, whilst rising above the ground and straightening itself, and when erect—Circumnutation of the cotyledons—Rate of movement—Analogous observations on various organs in species of Githago, Gossypium, Oxalis, Tropaeolum, Citrus, Æsculus, of several Leguminous and Cucurbitaceous genera, Opuntia, Helianthus, Primula, Cyclamen, Stapelia, Cerinthe, Nolana, Solanum, Beta, Ricinus, Quercus, Corylus, Pinus, Cycas, Canna, Allium, Asparagus, Phalaris, Zea, Avena, Nephrodium, and Selaginella. CHAPTER II.—GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS ON THE MOVEMENTS AND GROWTH OF SEEDLING PLANTS. Generality of the circumnutating movement—Radicles, their circumnutation of service—Manner in which they penetrate the ground—Manner