Abstract
WHEN the apical shoot of a fir tree is broken o off or injured, it is a familiar fact that one of the lateral branches below changes its direction of growth in order to take the place of the original apical shoot. The change of direction is accompanied by greater vigour of growth. These phenomena attracted the attention of Errera,1 who suggested, as the reason why the lateral shoots do not tend to grow vertically while the apical shoot is intact, the possibility that the latter might produce inhibitory substances of a chemical nature which travel downwards to the other parts of the tree. Direct evidence was not then available, but the hypothesis has since received confirmation from certain experiments by Dr. Jacques Loeb, who appears to have been unaware of Errera's suggestion.
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References
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BAYLISS, W. Chemical Correlation in the Growth of Plants . Nature 102, 285–287 (1918). https://doi.org/10.1038/102285d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/102285d0