The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants was first published as a paper in the Journal of the Linnean Society in 1865 and expanded into a book by John Murray in 1875. Darwin classified climbing plants into five groups based on their mechanisms: twiners (which coil their stems around a support), leaf-climbers (which use modified leaves to grip), tendril-bearers (which use specialized tendrils), root-climbers (which use aerial roots), and hook-climbers (which use thorns or hooks).
Darwin’s experimental work was characteristically ingenious. He observed plants hour by hour, plotting the circular movements (circumnutation) of their growing tips. He discovered that tendrils are extraordinarily sensitive to touch — some respond to a contact lasting only a few seconds and weighing only a few milligrams — and that the response (coiling, thickening, lignification) is precisely adapted to securing the plant to its support.
The broader significance of the work was its demonstration that plants are not passive organisms but active ones — that they move, respond to stimuli, and solve problems (how to reach light, how to secure support) through evolved mechanisms that are analogous to animal behavior. This theme — the continuity between plants and animals, the universality of evolutionary principles — runs through all of Darwin’s botanical work.
Collecting The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants
First edition in book form (John Murray, London, 1875): Green cloth binding.
Market values:
- First edition, fine: $800–$2,000
- Very good: $300–$800