32 



FIELD AND WOODLAND PLANTS 



We often find the Bramble growing in abundance on heaths 

 and downs, in situations where suitable props do not exist. In this 

 case the younger shrubs simply trail along the ground, or form 

 low arches as the weight of the stems and their appendages cause 

 the apex to bend to the ground. Yet if we turn to the older shrubs 

 of several years' growth we find that they have succeeded in reaching 

 a height of some feet. The first stems of these shrubs formed low 

 arches as we have just described, and then they gave rise to branches 

 which were first erect, but w^ere afterwards bent downwards in the 



same manner, form- 

 ing arches rising 

 higher than their 

 predecessors. This 

 continued, year after 

 year, till at last a 

 long series of stems, 

 forming arch above 

 arch, reached the pre- 

 sent height, the older 

 stems, at the bottom, 

 now^ dead, serving to 

 support the whole 

 mass above. 



Some climbing 

 stems produce little 

 roots by means of 

 which they can cling 

 firmly to available 

 supports. Such are 

 very common among 

 tropical plants, but 

 oiu" Ivy afl:'ords a 

 splendid example. 

 The roots so formed 

 may appear in 

 clusters at special points of the stem, or in long Unes running 

 longitudinally on it, and they are produced on trailers as well as on 

 cUmbers. In fact, we can draw no fine distinction between the 

 former and the latter in this respect, and even the Ivy will some- 

 times trail along the ground after the manner of the Periwinkle, 

 which roots itself at several points as it proceeds. 



TVV, SnO\\TNG THE ROOTLETS OR SUCKERS. 



