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Abstract

The experiments we are about to describe started1 as a new approach to an old problem—the mechanism of gravity perception in plants. All higher plants are sensitive to gravity; indeed the oriented growth of organs such as roots, shoots, and leaves is governed primarily by it. If a plant organ is by any means displaced from its normal direction of growth, certain regions of the organ sensitive to gravity will perceive the change and then, by a hormone-mediated mechanism, will induce one side of the organ to grow faster than the other, producing a curvature tending to restore the normal orientation to the growing part of the organ. The sensitive areas are usually the extreme apical regions.

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© 1964 Plenum Press

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Audus, L.J., Whish, J.C. (1964). Magnetotropism. In: Barnothy, M.F. (eds) Biological Effects of Magnetic Fields. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0214-9_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-0214-9_15

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-0216-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-0214-9

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