A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



the water may more readily flow through the long stems ; they are 

 sometimes more than a fiftieth of an inch in diameter. The upward 

 "root-pressure" of the water is therefore particularly high in the 

 lianas. Even in Europe, if we cut through a growing vine-stock in 

 the spring, it begins to "bleed" — that is, the rising sap oozes out of 

 it. Certain tropical lianas yield so much water when severed that 

 they are known as the Phytocrene or "vegetable spring" lianas, and 

 the traveller through the virgin forest can fill his glass with a 

 refreshing drink from the severed stem of one of these creepers. He 

 must, however, as Herzog observes, sever the liana a second time 



above the point of the first resection, as otherwise 

 the sap will not escape. A severed piece of liana 

 forty inches in length will yield a glassful of 

 perfectly clear, cool water, with a pleasant and 

 slightly acid flavour. 



There are also lianas which contrive a shorter 



path for the water drawn up from the soil. When 



the Monstera or "Banana do brejo," which has 



already been mentioned, winds itself along a 



horizontal bough, it sends down roots, which grow 



longer and longer, and turn back directly they 



Fig. 3.— a section reach the ground. From this point rootlets grow 



of a liana stem in ^^^^ -^^^^ ^^^ ^^jj ^^^^ ^^^ Straight, smooth rOOt, 



which the vascular . . . 



channels are vis- anchoring the latter, and as they draw it a little 



ible as holes in the way into the earth they tighten the cable, so to 

 cut surfaces. (After gpeak, SO that the water which rises from them 

 flows upwards all the more readily. Under each 

 new leaf two such roots are produced; it seems that the great 

 lob ate, perforated leaves demand an individual water-supply. In 

 addition to these roots, the Monstera develops others which do not 

 reach the ground, but have such a porous and absorbent epidermis 

 that they are able directly to absorb the rain-water that falls on 

 them, or the moisture in the atmosphere. This remarkable plant has 

 thus four kinds of roots, for it has also roots like those of our ivy, 

 which emerge from the stem at intervals, and embrace the trunks 

 and boughs along which the creeper makes its way. The whole 

 plant, with its huge leaves and hanging cables, offers a most singular 

 and fascinating spectacle. 



Amazing indeed is the creative power which has produced lianas 

 90 



