OR APPENDAGES OP PLANTS. 225 



making several circumvolutions, by which 

 they take hold of any thing m their way, 

 and then assume a firmer texture. After 

 accomplishing a certain number of turns 

 in one direction, some tendrils have a 

 power of twining subsequently the contrary 

 way ; many of them moreover are branched 

 or compound, so that the chances of their 

 meeting with a support are multiplied. 

 The Vine, Vitis vinifcra, the various spe- 

 cies of Passion-flower, and the Pea or Vetch 

 tribe afford good examples of spiral ten- 

 drils. The Virginian Creeper Hedera, or, 

 as it ought to be called, Vitis, quinquefolia s 

 has branched tendrils, whose extremities 

 adhere to the smoothest flint, like the fibres 

 of Ivy. Gloriosa superba, Andr. Repos. 

 t. T29, and Flagellaria indica, have a 

 simple spiral tendril at the end of each 

 leaf; for they belong to the Monocoty- 

 ledones, the structure of whose whole her- 

 bage is generally of the most simple and 

 compendious kind. The flower-stalks of 

 Cardiospermum Halicacabum bear ten- 

 drils ; but a most singular kind of tendril 

 if it may so be called, which certainly has 

 Q 



