STEMS ta 
out their leaves and flowers from a very short stem, which 
hardly rises above the surface of the ground. 
88. Climbing and Twining Stems.1— Since it is essen- 
tial to the health and rapid growth of most plants that 
they should have free access 
to the sun and air, it is not 
strange that many should 
resort to special devices for 
lifting themselves above 
their neighbors. In tropi- 
cal forests, where the dark- 
ness of the shade anywhere 
beneath the tree-tops is so 
great that few flowering 
plants can thrive in it, the 
climbing plants or lianas 
often run like great cables 
for hundreds of feet before 
they can emerge into the sun- 
shine above. In temperate 
climates no such remarkable 
climbers are found, but many 
plants raise themselves for 
considerable distances. The 
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Fic. 39.— Lianas strangling a Palm. 
principal means to which they resort for this purpose are : 
(1) Producing roots at many points along the stem 
above ground and climbing on suitable objects by means 
of these, as in the English ivy (Fig. 15). 
(2) Laying hold of objects by means of tendrils or 
twining branches or leaf-stalks, as shown in Figs. 40, 41. 
1 See Kerner and Oliver’s Natural History of Plants, Vol. I, p. 669. 
