The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-09-05


OF all the phenomena Of plants. that
If Transportation is perhaps the most
interesting. The rich dew that inn
pearls summer morning with beauty,
resting on leaf and flower and grass
blade. dampening the country roads,
and that was once thought to be evolved
from the atmosphere, is proved by
the great Dutch naturalist Muschen-
brock to be the condensed perspira-
ton of plants. The expe iment was
very simple; he covered with a plate
of lead the whole circumference of the
root OF white poppy, so rs to pre-
vent the vapor OF the earth from inter-
fering with his experiment. The plant
was then covered with bell glass ce-
mented TO the lead. After that, each
morning, when the naturalist came to
visit the imprisoned liant, he observed
that even during the driest night its
leaves were covered with an innumer-
able quantity of those drops of water
10 which the name of dew is given,
and that the sides of the glass were
covered with moisture. Gusttard was
able to decide the amount which vege-
table Transportation produces. and found
that a branch of a cornell tree weigh ng
only five and one-haif drachm dis
t lied each day an ounce and three
drachms of water, double its weight. in
tw,:nty-fonr hours.
The common garden sunilower is
| marked instance the Transportation of
plants, Wales has proved by expert
ment that sunflower lost by the tran
spiIation o. its leaves twenty ounces q
water In twenty-four hours. Ruysch,
the great / utch anatomist, states that
an arum which he kept in q greenhouse
in the botanical garden at Amsterdam
dist lied water drop bv drop from the
extremit es of its leaves in proportion
as it was watered and another plant of
the same family IColocasia escuienta),
edible arum, threw OFT little drops of
water in the form of ct, that were ex.
hailed from the pores seen on the tips of
its cordate-shaped leaves; aud from
each of these orr, ces from ten to one
hundr d drops OF water were thrown
some distance every minute. iouchet
mentions si:-;Ilar phenomenon in one
OF the greenhouses of the botanical
garden at oucn, where an arborescent
fuchsia IA ned down SO much water
upon the plants around it that it was
necessary to remove them. he leaves
of other plants, more tenacious of the
retspiration they distil, collect it in
little cups, which are seen at the ex-
tremities of their leaves, these
in some cases have movable lids.
Tie most remarkable plant that
exhibits this phenomenon is the
famous Nepenthes distiilatoria, or
pitcher plant, found in Southern Asia.
Its lea es display firm mid-rib, which
extends along the blade and ends in
strong cylindrical cup. provided with q
hinged lid, which spontaneously opens
and closes according to the state of the
atmosphere. During the night this lid
sinks down and hermeii.ally closes the
little vase, which then fills up with
limpid water exhaled by its walls. Dur
ing the das the lid is raised and the
water mostly evapOrates. The benefi-
cient nepenthe has often quenched the
thirst of the Italian lost in the bu ming
deserts. In the marshy forests of
southern America is found another dis
tilling plant. the purple sarraeenia, the
structure of which is equa ly eccentric.
Its leaves, uniting at their edges, are
transformed into elegant anphorp, the
narrow opening Of which is sdrmounted
by a ample green aurcle threaded
with scarlet veins. to which tn s 81 &c es
owes its name. These cups are filled
wi h pure and deli ious water for the.
benefit of the traveller. and for which
ne is all the more grateful as no is en-
circled by morasses. The water of which
Is lukewarm aud nauseous.
The vegetable marvel in transpira-
ton is the weeping tree of the Canary
Islands, whose lufted fol age distills wa
ter like rain. But the rain tree with
viii botanists are familiar is the
Tamil Caspia of the eastern Peruvian
Andes. Prof Ernst. the director of the
Botanic Gardens at Caracas, states:
ain the month of April the young
leaves are still del cate and transpar-
ent; during the whole day fine spray
of rain is to be motto ID under the tree,
even in the driest air, so that the strong
ly-tinted iron clay soil is distinct Y
mo st. The phenomenon diminishes
with the growth of the leaves. and
ceases when they are full grown" He
attributes the rain to secretions from
glands on the footstalk OF the leaf on
which drops of The Ii u;d are oind
viii h are rapidly renewed on Icing re-
moved with blotting paper.
The gigantic gum trees, Eucalyptus
Globulus, so va ua lie to destroy ma ar
ia, emit camphora eous antiseptic va
pors from their leaves that counterfeit
the poisons OF the atmosphere.
Tran cript.