106 TENDRIL-BEARERS. Chap. III. 



and then seize their own lower branches or the main 

 stem. The stick is thus firmly, but not neatly, 

 grasped. What the tendrils are really adapted for, 

 appears to be such objects as the thin culms of certain 

 grasses, or the long flexible bristles of a brush, or thin 

 rigid leaves such as those of the Asparagus, all of 

 which they seize in an admirable manner. This is 

 due to the extremities of the branches close to the 

 little hooks being extremely sensitive to a touch 

 from the thinnest object, which they consequently 

 curl round and clasp. When a small brush, for 

 instance, was placed near a tendril, the tips of each 

 sub-branch seized one, two, or three of the bristles ; 

 and then the spiral contraction of the several branches 

 brought all these little parcels close together, so that 

 thirty or forty bristles were drawn into a single bundle, 

 which afforded an excellent support. 



Polemoniace M. Cdbcea scandens. This is an 

 excellently constructed climber. The tendrils on a 

 fine plant were eleven inches long, with the petiole 

 bearing two pairs of leaflets, only two and a half 

 inches in length. They revolve more rapidly and 

 vigorously than those of any other tendril-bearer 

 observed by me, with the exception of one kind of 

 Passiflora. Three large, nearly circular sweeps, di- 

 rected against the sun were completed, each in 1 hr. 

 15m.; and two other circles in 1 hr. 20 m. and 1 hr. 

 23 m. Sometimes a tendril travels in a much inclined 

 position, and sometimes nearly upright. The lower part 

 moves but little and the petiole not at all ; nor dc 



