THE DRAPERY OF VINES $11 



leaves. Balsam Apple is not common hereabout, 

 though Time o' Year's River mirrors a few masses 

 of it; but all along the lower Bronx in New York 

 state it is so abundant as to paint charming pic- 

 tures for the passers-by on trains. 



The Wild Yam is a vine of moist seclusion, 

 rather than one that follows the wood edge or 

 open river. It climbs by its stem for twelve or 

 fifteen feet, and its leaves are of the shape of some 

 of the Bindweeds and the Wild Convolvulus, except 

 that the veins run lengthwise, marking it as akin 

 to the Lily tribe, the veining being like that of the 

 Carrion Flower, which shows its balls of feathery 

 white flowers along June hedges and wood bor- 

 ders, to be followed by clusters of sometimes forty 

 or fifty bluish berries. 



The Yam has a very fantastic way of progress- 

 ing, by going to the end of a straight sapling, then 

 bending in a leafy festoon until it reaches another, 

 so that a dozen slender trees may be joined and 

 draped in this graceful fashion. The small flowers 

 are a greenish white, drooping in loose panicles, 

 quite inconspicuous in comparison with the bright 

 green three -angled seeds which, when mature, are 

 almost one inch long, and hang in long bunches 

 that are very ornamental. These frequently re- 



