Abstract
IN NATURE of July 18 (p. 270) I mentioned that I had proved the excretion from plant roots of a toxic substance. This substance proves to be alkaloidal in nature, and is precipitated, in addition to the usual alkaloidal reagents, by most of the substances in use as artificial manure. Potassium sulphate and chloride appear to be the most complete precipitants of all the reagents so far tried. They appear to precipitate the substance in the form of a base—a white amorphous powder. The amount excreted is by no means negligible, and Sesamum indicum, indeed, in its early stages at least, appears to excrete more solid matter than it builds up in its own substance.
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FLETCHER, F. Root-action and Bacteria. Nature 76, 518 (1907). https://doi.org/10.1038/076518b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/076518b0
