Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 231, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 September 1913 — Senses of Plants. [ARTICLE]

Senses of Plants.

The sense most developed in plants is that of sight, which enables them to see' light but not to distinguish objects. This sense limitation is found among many living creatures, such as the earthworm, oyster and coral, etc., which possess no localized visual organ, but give proof of their luminous impressions by the contractions that they manifest when exposed to a ray of sunshine. Similarly, It Is easy to gauge the influence of light on plants. Cultivate a plant in a room with a window only on one side and its stalks in growing will incline toward the source of light. Physiologists explain this by suggesting that the side to the dark grows more quickly than that exposed to the light. There remains, however, the fact that the plant has reacted to the light of whose effect it was conscious. A sense common to many plants is* that of touch, Of this the most Illustrative example is, as its name implies, the sensitive plant. Another leaf, responsive to the touch, is the catch-fly, whose two halves close down upon the other by means of a central hinge.—Harper’s Weekly.