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श्री पुष्करमुनि अभिनन्दन ग्रन्थ : चतुर्थ खण्ड
from the liquid substances to the forms of biologically useful energy. These occur in green plants as they do in every living cell of organism.
The land plants have the cellular thick wall (tvac) as in the woody stems of trees and shrubs. They serve directly for the support of the plant body and they have also rather thin wall67 which provides support indirectly by way of pressure. Besides, trees and shrubs have gūḍhasira (xylem) and ahiruyam (phloem) to help support their trunk.
The nutrients of plants are either made within the cells or are absorbed through the cell membranes. The nutrients synthesized are either used at once or transported to another part, such as, the stem, or root, etc. The inscectivorous plants," although without an organized digestive system, do secrete digestive enzymes?2 similar to those secreted by animals.
Plants accumulate the reserves of organic materials for use during those times when photosynthesis is impossible, at night or over the winter when leaves fall.
An embryo plant cannot make its own food until the seed has sprouted and the embryo has developed a functional root", leaf75 and stem76 system.
The simpler plants consisting of single cell or small group of cells" have no circulatory system. It is suggestive in Jaina Biology that simple diffusion, augmented in certain instance by the process of active transport by air78 suffices to bring in the substance," required by the plant. Gudhasiras 80 (Xylem) tubes probably transport water and minerals from the roots up the stem to the leaves, while ahirüyam (phloem) tubes may probably transport nutrients up as well down the stems for storage and use them in the stems and roots, etc.
The circulatory systems of higher plants are simple than those of higher animals and constructed on an entirely different plan in Jaina Biology. Plants have no heart and blood vessels. Transportation of their nutrients from the soil is accompanied by the combined forces of transpiration82 pull and root pressure.83
Plant sap (sineha or rasa)s as mentioned in Jaina Biology is somewhat analogous to the blood plasma of man and higher animals, which is complex solution of both organic and inorganic substances which are transported from one part of the plant to another by the combined action of suction force which is connected with transpiration pull and root pressure.86
A striking difference between plants and animals as found in Jaina Biology is that plants excrete little or no waste. Since plants are lomāhārins (absorbers of nutrients through the epidermal cells) nor carry on muscular activity like kabalähärin88 man and higher animals This is true as Modern Biologists also ascertains, writes Mr. C. A. Villee in his Biology "the total amount of nitrogeneous waste is small and may be eliminated by diffusion as waste through the pores of the leaves or by diffusion as nitrogen containing salt from the root into the soil.89
The activities of the various parts of a plant are much more autonomous than are those of the parts of an animal. The co-ordination between parts that does exist is achieved largely by direct chemical and physical means, since plants have evolved or developed no specialized sense-organs except that of touch (sparsanendriya) and no nervous system as found in man and higher animals. They have sensitiveness generated by stimulus.
Actively growing plants can respond to a stimulus coming from a given direction by growing more rapidly or bend away from the stimulus.94 If an organism (eg, creeper) is motile, it may respond to a stimulus by moving toward it for support.95
The root of a plant is positively geotropic and negatively heliotropic and the shoot is negatively geotropic but positively heliotropic
In a few plants the responses to stimuli take place rapidly enough to be readily observed, e.g., the response of the sensitive plant "Mimosa-pudica" (Lajjāvatilată jr
Some plants as described in Jaina Biology change the position of their leaves or flower in the late afternoon or evening (Sandhya) and their parts return to their original position in the morning. Several kinds of flowers close at night and open in the morning" with the sun
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