Outlines of medical botany : comprising vegetable anatomy and physiology, the characters and properties of the natural orders of plants, an explanation of the Linnaean system of classification, and tables of medicinal plants, arranged in their Linnaean and natural orders / by Hugo Reid.

  • Reid, Hugo, 1809-1872.
Date:
1832
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Outlines of medical botany : comprising vegetable anatomy and physiology, the characters and properties of the natural orders of plants, an explanation of the Linnaean system of classification, and tables of medicinal plants, arranged in their Linnaean and natural orders / by Hugo Reid. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    niical analogy such as this, however, can prove little except supported by other phenomena, leading- to the same result. II. The only phenomena in the physiology of plants which have any appearance of being connected with a nervous system are those which are more correctly said to be caused by their irritability. Examples of this property in plants are within every one's observa- tion. The tm-ning of leaves and flowers to the light, even though repeatedly put out of their natural posi- tion, and the opening and closing of flowers, are well known. The stamens of the Rock-rose {Helianthemum) and of the Barberry {Berberis) possess the peculiar pro- perty of bending when irritated by any sharp body. The leaves of the Hedysarum gyrans, a plant found in India, are almost constantly ia a state of motion. The leaf of the Dionea muscipula (Venus' Fly-trap) is pro- vided with bristles, and, when irritated by an insect, it becomes folded and crushes the animal. The most re- markable instance of irritability in vegetables is afi^ord- ed by the sensitive plant (Mimosa pudica); when touch- ed or agitated by the wind, the leaflets become erect, and closely applied to each other and to the stalk, but they gradually resume their original position when the stimulus is withdrawn. Besides these, there are many other instances which it would be unnecessary to enu- merate here : indeed it is not improbable that it is by a kind of irritability, or contractile power, that the rootlets are enabled to absorb the juices, and the ves- sels to propel their contents. It has also been lately ascertained that vegetables are acted on by those poi- sons which are supposed to affect animals through the