OR APPENDAGES OP PLANTS. 225 



iTfiaking several circumvolutions, by which 

 they lake hold of any thing in 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 multiphed. 

 The Vine, Vitis vmifera, 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, qidnquefolia, 

 has branched tendrils, whose extremities 

 adhere to the smoothest flint, like the fibres 

 of Ivy. Gloriosa superba,/. 76', Andr. Re- 

 pos. t. 129, and Flngdlaria indica, have 

 a simple spiral tendril at the end of each 

 leaf; for they belong to the Mojiocoty- 

 ledones, the structure of whose whole her- 

 bage is generally of the most simple and 

 compendious kind. The flower-stalks of 

 Cardiospermum Halicacabicm bear ten* 

 drils ; but a most singular kind of tendril, 

 if it may so be called, which certainly has 

 Q 



