INSTINCT IN PLANTS.

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 1 October 1913, Page 7

INSTINCT IN PLANTS.

Plants sometimes appear te possess reasoning power. Charles Darwin instanced, the case of the rootlet, wirich, piercing- its way through the soil and detecting; 'a stone or lump of hard clay in its path, will go round it without touching it... "How does the rootlet or plant know the stone is there P" he asks. "Certainly it cannot see it, and, as it does not touch itj cannot feel it. The avoidance therefore seems te be in the nature of pereeptien ef some kind whiek is a mental operation." The species of mimosa known as the sensative plant will contract its leaves even at the sound of a footstep, and when such a plant is being teasgplamied it crumples up during the process in such a way that it really appears to be suffering from fear; afterwards it recovers and resumes its ordinary m«4& of life. Plants undoubtedly possess consciousness of a kind whiek enables them to carry out certain operations meeessary to their preservation, amd this ©an only be*done tkrough the jtoseessien of some sort »f nervous system.