The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants
Author: Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) from the library of James Francis Tennant Date: 1875 Publisher: John Murray Place: London Description: viii+208+{32 ad] pages with diagrams and index. Small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/4") bound in original publisher's blind-stamped green cloth lettered in gilt on spine. Second edition, revised; First Edition in book form. The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants is a landmark botanical book written by Charles Darwin, first published in book form in 1875. Following his groundbreaking work on On the Origin of Species, Darwin sought to provide further evidence for his theory of natural selection by demonstrating how weak-stemmed plants adapted mechanically to compete for light. Darwin meticulously studied over a hundred species and categorized climbing plants into five main classes based on their specialized organs and physiological habits. This volume is a revised reprint of Darwin's well-known treatise on the habits of climbing plants, published in 1865 in the ninth volume of the "Journal of the Linnean Society," with such additions and corrections as the progress of knowledge since that time has rendered necessary. Although the subject had been investigated previously to that time by the German physiologists Palm and Von Mohl, it was Mr. Darwin's publication, describing many facts not previously recorded, that first introduced the remarkable phenomena connected with it to the notice of the general public. The phrase Climbing Plant is used by Darwin as a generic term for all those which, provided themselves with but weak stems that have no power of standing erect, avail themselves of the assistance of neighboring plants for the purpose of raising their foliage and flowers to a considerable height from the ground. The plants included under this head are arranged in four divisions, according to the part that is modified in order to subserve this purpose: (1) Twining Plants (called in the first edition Spiral Twiners), in which the stem is the climbing organ; (2) Leaf-climbers, which climb by the aid of the petiole or some other portion of the leaf; (3) Tendril-bearers, by far the most numerous class, which are provided with tendrils specially contrived for this purpose; and (4) Hook and root-climbers, which climb by the aid of hooks on aërial roots, or merely scramble over other plants. In all these classes except the last, the mechanical means by which the climbing is effected is a sensitiveness and power of revolution possessed by the extremity of the stem or tendril, or by the petiole. Lieutenant-General James Francis Tennant, CIE, FRS (1829-1915) was a British soldier and astronomer. His mathematical skills landed him with the Great Trigonometric Survey where he was engaged in triangulation of the great longitudinal series until 1857, when he was diverted to garrison duties during the Indian Mutiny. In 1859, when he rejoined the survey, he was given the directorship of the Madras Observatory where his interest in astronomy started. He was noted for being an observer for the Royal Astronomical Society for the solar eclipse of 17 August 1868 across the Indian peninsula, and that of 11 December 1871 across southern India, and later the transit of Venus of 1874. It was during these observations that photographic equipment was used extensively for the first time, Tennant was a practiced expert in photography and his skill aided the observations of the eclipses, in particular that of the solar corona. Condition: Bookplate of Francis J. Tennant to front paste-down. Minor wear to corners, boards and spine, hinges starting, light toning, spine darkened else very good.